The Kiss That Never Was
by Paul T1
Summary: Keitaro and Naru have a serious falling out. Keitaro begins to focus his attention on some of the other women, and sparks are soon flying. Who does he finally end up with? Three new chapters make this the longest Love Hina fanfic there is.
1. Part 1

**THE KISS THAT NEVER WAS**

**Introductory Thoughts**

Disclaimer: I don't own Love Hina.

I've never written fan-fiction before, or any kind of fiction, for that matter. I only recently discovered Love Hina, and know next to nothing of anime or fan fiction. But I felt compelled to start writing this because I found the romance between Keitaro and Narusegawa very unsatisfying. Some of the other women were much better matches for him, plus she deserved to lose him after all of her unreasonable punching and dithering. I thought I'd pick a point where it was most likely Keitaro and Naru would have a falling out, and then see what naturally transpires. The story seems to be writing itself, and I have no idea where it will go, how long the story will be, or which woman Keitaro will finally end up with, but I think it'll be fun to find out.

I also wanted to break off from the official timeline at a point where I could cut out the increasing number of fantastical plot twists involving too many missiles, explosions, chases, and the Kanako subplot, and have things a bit more grounded in reality. Some parts are a bit more risqué than usual, especially since some of the characters actually eventually have sex (gasp!). But I hope it's done in a tasteful, "fade to black" kind of way. I think one of the fun things about Love Hina is how Keitaro is constantly kept in a state of sexual agitation, yet real emotions and consequences are dealt with honestly as well. At first a lot of the focus is on Keitaro's relationships with Mitsune and Motoko, but later on Mutsumi and Narusegawa will also play major roles.

Some people may find their beloved characters acting out of character at times, so I want to explain my reasoning on that. The way I understand the official story, the other Hinata Inn women all wanted Keitaro as a boyfriend, but failed to wholeheartedly act on their emotions out of the sense that Naru and him were inevitably fated to be with each other. So emotional relationships remained mostly static pretty much through all of the manga. This story begins with that sense of inevitability firmly broken. That slowly but eventually turns Hinata Inn into an emotional tempest, as a free-for-all competition to win Keitaro's heart develops. So, given those drastic changes, some characters are forced to dramatically change and sometimes even act against their usual natures in order to react and adjust to new developments. So the characters are changing and evolving. For some characters like Keitaro and Motoko, dramatic changes begin very early on in this story. 

Note that all thoughts are marked with italics. Sound effects are marked with .

Finally, my hat is off Alzrius. He has been a great help with editing, proofreading, and even giving specific suggestions for certain scenes and chapter titles. I also would have certainly given up on finishing the story had he not repeatedly goaded me into continuing it! ;)

**  
The Kiss That Never Was, Part One**

**Prologue**

This story is based on the manga and not the TV show. The plot begins to diverge from the official one at the end of volume number 9. In that story, after a rough patch in their relationship, Narusegawa tells Keitaro that she doesn't have romantic feelings for him, but wants to be just friends. His romantic hopes are looking grim, but then she reverses herself and allows him to kiss her, keeping his romantic hopes alive. This story imagines what would have happened if that kiss never happened, and his romantic feelings for her were quashed enough to actually become involved with other women. The story diverges from the official one after a few paragraphs when a tossed watermelon misses him, causing him to get away from Naru before she has chance to kiss him.

To further recall the scene, this story begins around June 2000. After failing three times, Keitaro has finally been admitted to Toudai (Tokyo University), but he missed his first semester because of a broken leg. Just as his leg heals and he is ready to return to school, summer vacation begins, once again delaying the start of his university career. 

Keitaro's love life hasn't been faring much better. After chasing beautiful Narusegawa for two years, a few months ago he finally had admitted his love for her, but she's been avoiding him ever since. Though she loves him, she's not ready for a serious romance.

**  
Chapter One: Disaster Strikes**

All the residents of the Hinata Inn were on an overnight trip to go swimming at a high-class hotel. They were there at the invitation of Seta, the archeologist, and Keitaro's aunt Haruka. The day had been crazy for everyone. Seta and Haruka had suffered for years because the nature of their relationship hadn't been properly defined, and earlier in the day Haruka had turned down Seta's most recent offer of marriage. 

It was now late at night and everyone had gone to bed except for Keitaro and Naru. For the first time in weeks, Naru and Keitaro were freely talking, and feeling relatively comfortable around each other. With the example of Seta and Haruka's ambiguous feelings for each other freshly in mind, Naru finally decided she had to make up her mind about Keitaro, and tell him how she felt about him. 

The two of them sat sprawled out by the side of the hotel's large swimming pool, quietly watching the stars. It seemed like the perfect time for Naru to finally make her feelings for Keitaro clear. Seemingly out of nowhere, she turned towards him and said, "I… I like… you…"

Keitaro looked at the beautiful girl sitting so close to him in a skimpy bathing suit, and could hardly believe his ears. _She said she liked me! It can't be!_

Unfortunately, it wasn't. She continued, haltingly, "Sorry that I took so long to give you the answer… But… I… In my opinion… Instead of becoming lovers… Why not leave things just as they are … Just remaining friends … That's why I took so long to answer you … Is that OK for an answer...?" Her voice trailed off.

Keitaro's eyes popped wide open. In a flash of realization, it came to him. After all this time, _Just friends!_ _Everything had been going so well … we'd been getting closer and closer over the months, until I'd told her I loved her, and then it began to go wrong. Now it was all over! I've misunderstood everything. What an idiot!_

He got up, unable to hear any more. "So the answer is no!" he yelled, and ran off.

Naru picked up a nearby object, which happened to be a watermelon, and prepared to hurl it towards Keitaro's head. (Whenever she got emotionally worked up about Keitaro, she hid her true feelings behind a wall of anger.) "That's not it!" she yelled, and threw the watermelon. Keitaro got hit or kicked so often that it seemed he was cursed, but this time he got off lucky. The watermelon just missed his head, and he kept on running into the darkness.

Naru was too distraught to go after him just then, and had been hoping the watermelon would stop him in his tracks. But it didn't. She was alone, lit by dim poolside lamps, on the grounds of an unfamiliar and big hotel. All her friends were asleep, and now, he was gone. She dropped her head to the ground and began to cry.

_What the hell is wrong with me,_ she thought to herself. _I didn't mean it that way! That came out so harsh! I don't want to be 'just friends,' but I'm just not ready to be lovers yet, either. I just want things to be how they were before; before he said he loved me and it all changed and got so serious. _She cradled her head in her hands and sobbed. _We've had so much fun; even if he is a dumb pervert… he's a fun pervert!_ She reconsidered her thoughts – _Why do I keep putting down, even now, in my own thoughts? He's such a great guy… He's grown so much lately… So handsome and smart and responsible now… He even finally passed and is going to go to the best university in the country. He'd be a perfect boyfriend. What IS wrong with me__?__!?_

"Arrggh!" she yelled out loud. She desperately wanted something or someone (preferably Keitaro) to punch so she could release her emotions, but there was nothing and no one around her; just an empty concrete pool patio.

…

As bad as Naru felt, Keitaro was feeling even worse. Even though he knew men shouldn't cry, tears were rolling down his face as he hurried through the hotel grounds. It seemed like he was floating, lost in a cloud of confusion and despair. He didn't even really noticed where he was going, but somehow he passed right through the hotel lobby and finally found himself standing on the street in front of the hotel. He shook free from his daze enough to look around. The streets were nearly empty of cars, and there were no people in sight.

He wondered, _Maybe I should go back to Naru._ _No,_ _I have my pride. I don't want her to see me blubbering like this! But she's a kind-hearted person. Knowing how she hurt my feelings, she's probably going to come looking for me, even though she doesn't care for me. I'd probably just say something hurtful or something to make it worse – I'd better away from here, away from her!_

He ran off in some random direction, not caring where he was headed. He wandered down empty streets, drifting farther and farther from the hotel; still lost in thought and still crying.

…

Meanwhile, Naru lay by the side of the pool in the hotel. "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" she cursed herself, as she shook her clenched fists at the sky. She cried aloud, "After I hurt his feelings I wanted him to kiss me so badly! I should have let him kiss me! If I could just have kept things as they were, teasing and playful… Now he'll never forgive me!" 

She looked around. _Where did he go?_ She got up and began to wander, looking all over the gardens, lawns and pathways in the hotel compound. He was nowhere to be found. She went into the hotel lobby and looked out through the windows into the street. He wasn't there either. It wasn't smart for a scantily clad woman to wander the streets after midnight, so she went back into the hotel to find her friends.

"Kitsune! Kitsune! Open up!" She pounded on the door of the hotel room of her closest friend Mitsune, calling her by her nickname, "the fox." They were to be sharing a double that night; and her other friends were in other nearby double rooms. Mitsune came to the door dressed in just a towel, and opened it a crack. "Naru? Come in! What's wrong? I was wondering where you were - making lovey-dovey with Keitaro, eh?" she teased. No response. Mitsune rubbed her bleary fox-like eyes and opened the door all the way. There was Naru, with streams of tears pouring down her cheeks, and the saddest face Mitsune had ever seen her make. Mitsune's eyes opened wide in surprise as Naru ran into her arms.

Naru hurriedly told Mitsune the whole story, emphasizing her own foolishness and faults whenever possible. Mitsune tried her best to console her friend, but at the same time her clever mind began to think: _Keitaro is probably out wandering the streets, dressed in just his bathing suit and a pullover sweater that he was wearing earlier. Wandering around like a fool, he could end up hurt or lost left alone out there!___

When Naru finished her story, Mitsune put on a brave face, and tried to stir her out of her funk with a plan of action.

"Naru, Keitaro is wandering the streets! The fool can't take care of himself – he can hardly get halfway across the Hinata Inn without falling into somebody – we need to go and find him!" Naru, her head bowed down, just nodded. It seemed as if all the life had drained out of her.

Mitsune went out into the hallway and began waking up all the older members of their crew. Soon, Seta, Mutsumi, Haruka, Motoko, Mitsune and Naru were wandering the streets in pairs, looking for Keitaro.

They never did find him that night. After wandering for hours, Keitaro somehow found himself back in front of the Hinata Inn just as dawn was breaking. Some vague homing instinct led him back there, even though he gave little thought to where he was going. He found his way inside and collapsed onto his bed. He slept the deep sleep of someone totally exhausted, both mentally and physically.

A few hours later, a few of the others returned to the inn to check for him, and found him sleeping there. They decided to leave him be. He finally woke up in the afternoon, and eventually stumbled into an empty lobby. He found Shinobu in the kitchen. "Sempai!" she cried, with a face both happy to see him well and yet as sad as a lost lamb, because she had to give him really bad news. "Naru-san… she's…. she's gone. I'm so sorry, Sempai! She left this morning. She said she had to go back home to her parents for the summer..."

Keitaro just stood there as if struck dumb, his mouth agape. _What happened??? Everything has gone wrong!_

**  
Chapter Two: Down In The Dumps**

The next few days were some of the most miserable Keitaro had ever felt_. Narusegawa is gone, and won't be coming back to the inn until who-knows-when, if ever! It's only been a few days since the cast from my broken foot has come off and I'm finally free to run around. That also means I'm able to start studying at Toudai, my lifetime dream. But, fool that I am, I lost all track of time and now it's summer and there's no school to attend anyways. And now that I can walk, there's nowhere I want to go, without Narusegawa around! _

He thought about going to Narusegawa's parents' house, or at least calling her, but felt too ashamed.

_That would only make it worse_. _She's been avoiding me for months, and now I'd chase after her like some kind of puppy dog who never knows when to give it a rest? Maybe when she'll come back things will be better…. Time heals all wounds. But in the meantime, I've got to do something to get her off of my mind._

To make matters worse, the ever-cheerful Mutsumi had little chance to cheer Keitaro up, because she had to leave the Hinata Inn a few days after his incident with Naru. Summer vacation had begun, and she already had plans to return home to her parents' house in Okinawa for the whole summer. She had hoped to invite both Keitaro and Naru to come with her there for the first part of her vacation, but clearly that could no longer happen. Mutsumi still harbored strong feelings for Keitaro, but she realized he needed some time and space alone after all that had just happened to him.

Before she left, Mutsumi thought to herself,_ Perhaps it's a good time to leave anywa__y__. He needs time to heal. In a month or two, Ke__i__-kun will be back on his feet and recovered from whatever happened between him and Naru. She's had so many chances, but she never appreciates what she has with him. She may not love him, but I do! When I get back in September, I won't hold back any more, out of respect for her. I'm going to do everything I can to win him!_

So Naru and Mutsumi were gone, but all the other residents at Hinata Inn were staying put for the whole summer. The other women did their best to cheer Keitaro up, but all their efforts could hardly bring a smile to his face. And with Keitaro so down, the general atmosphere at Hinata Inn was gloomy. 

Two weeks passed painfully slowly for Keitaro, with little change from day to day. Then Haruka announced that everyone should go back to the beach house just as they did the summer before, but that plan was quietly dropped when Keitaro told the others to go ahead without him. Haruka decided to postpone the trip until the end of summer vacation, when everyone hopefully would be in a better mood.

Keitaro was so down that he even failed to do anything "perverted." Mitsune in particular tried her best to "accidentally" get caught in compromising situations where he would find her in various states of undress. No response. One day, even Motoko "forgot" to close her door as she was changing and he was walking by, but he didn't even notice her. Shinobu cooked his favorite dishes every night, and everyone went out of their way to give him small kindnesses, but he couldn't be consoled. Hinata Inn felt like a morgue.

Finally, after those first two miserable weeks, Keitaro made a conscious effort to throw himself into work, to make the days more bearable and pass faster. As manager of the inn, he began devoting all his energy to running it. Since most of the day-to-day work such as the cooking and laundry was being taken care of by Shinobu, he began fixing everything that needed fixing. The place was old and really run down, and badly needed the attention. He fixed the hot spring taps, repaired the broken woodwork, and sanded and polished the floors until they shined. 

On one particularly morose day, he even fixed the hole between the ceiling of his room and Naru's room above him. _I won't be needing this ever again!_ he thought, mentally beating himself up. _Narusegawa will never have any occasion to call me a pervert. What a loser I've been - popping my head into her room and catching her naked, when she doesn't even care if I exist!_

But time really does heal all wounds, and as the weeks went by, life slowly returned to normal. With so many good friends trying to help him and cheer him up, it was hard for Keitaro to remain depressed, no matter how bad he felt about himself. By and by, he once again began to play games and run around with the younger residents like Sara, Shinobu, and Suu. On some nights, everyone would watch TV, or play videogames, or find other ways to pass the time away together.

Keitaro also began to study. Although he had no classes to study for, he had missed the first semester at Toudai, and was in serious danger of falling behind his peers. So he began prep work for the next semester, to bolster his shattered confidence.

**  
Chapter Three: A New Beginning**

One lazy day, Keitaro sat on the roof edge at the top of Hinata Inn, overlooking the city. It had been about a month since that dreadful last encounter between him and Naru. For weeks he had kept his days completely full with work so he wouldn't have any time to contemplate, but now that his pace had slowed down, he was beginning to think about Naru and related issues more and more.

She still hasn't called the inn. Is it truly over between us? Is she coming back? She has to come back to the city in the fall for the university, but will she stay at the Hinata Inn? What will I do when I see her again? What will she do? Where did I go wrong? Am I good enough to be a Toudai student? It was only because of Naru that I was able to pass the tests to enter the university in the first place. I have yet to even start my first class, because of the broken leg. Am I going to fall on my face, now that I don't have her for support and inspiration? What about my childhood promise? Why am I going to Toudai at all, now that she and I…

His thoughts continued to go round and round in his head in this manner, as it had nearly every day since his last fateful encounter with her. He watched the clouds roll by and looked at all the people far off in the distance, as small as ants.

But on this day, he began to have a change of attitude. He finally began to think of more than just Narusegawa. _Why am I thinking like this again?_ he asked himself. _I'm kicking myself over and over. I have to be optimistic. The past is gone. It's time to move on. Think about your situation, Keitaro! Here you are, manager of a girl's boarding school that's filled with nothing but pretty women. They all like you a lot. Any other young man would be happy to trade places with you in a heartbeat. Yet all you do is mope. Forget Naru! If she's going to be that way, let her. I'm going to be a real Toudai student this September. I did it – I achieved my dream of getting in! And this archeology work Seta has shown me is really exciting. Maybe in the future he and I can work on digs all over the world. I'll be living an exciting life! A promising career already, maybe. At school, I'll be meeting all kinds of new people. Maybe I'll find some woman there who'll make me forget all about Narusegawa. It's true that I'm 21 and I still have never had a girlfriend, but I've been kissed by a few now. I'm not the same shy guy I was two years ago, when I trembled just to be near a woman. I really have a bright future ahead of me._

_Now that I think about it, it wasn't that long ago that I was almost forced to marry Motoko! If she had lost that battle with her sister, she might be my wife, right now! What would the Keitaro that first arrived at Hinata Inn think about that? I'm a man now, not a kid anymore._

_And would that have been so bad, to be married to Motoko? I have to admit, there was a part of me that hoped that marriage would happen. She's so beautiful. Now that I think about it, I've barely even been paying attention to her lately. She must be hurt. I haven't been paying attention to anyone. Why am I just thinking about myself? I'm too self-centered, moping for weeks like somebody died._

_And that's not all! What about Mitsune? Now that I think some more, lately she's been wearing some of the most flimsy outfits I've ever seen! Just yesterday, I walked by her room, and she was standing there, totally topless! And she didn't even punch me! It was almost like … she was kind of glad that I saw her, though that can't be. Wow. Her nice soft breasts were right there in front of me…_

_Speaking of which… Mutsumi! Heh-heh! She's a real looker! And such a nice person, too! We have so much in common. Could it be that she really likes me, that she'd be attracted to me? Maybe she's the one who's meant for me, not Narusegawa…_

Keitaro cried, "Arrgggh!" as sat up and pounded a fist into a hand. His mood suddenly turned gloomy at the thought of Narusegawa's name. Now thinking aloud, he said, "Why did I have to think about HER again? I was just starting to get excited, thinking about other people for a change. Well, I'm not going to sit here, like a pathetic puppy dog, waiting for Narusegawa to come back. If she doesn't like me, I'm going to find someone else!"

Keitaro stood up and marched back to the inn, full of new resolve. He was at once both happier and sadder than he'd felt in a while. From that day forward, he began to show more life, and took more notice in the physical charms of the other women around him. 

As Mitsune put it a few days later, just after Keitaro fell down and found his head somehow stuck between her legs, "The perverted Keitaro we all know and love is back!"

**  
Chapter Four: Masters And Apprentices**

Keitaro wisely decided that if he was going to get Naru out of his life, he would have to replace the large hole in his life that she occupied with other people and activities. He did most everything with her, now that he thought about it.

One day it occurred to him, _Instead of her, her, her, I need to deliberately do more with the others around me. If I become more engaged in their lives, I can forget my own troubles all the better. For instance, Motoko-chan. I've been living with her for two years, I almost got married to her, as amazing as that is, and yet, in reality I hardly know her. We still are officially enemies of some kind. She calls me a weakling and I poke fun at her lack of feminine graces. I've got to find some way to change that. It's time I put the past behind me - look at things differently, do things differently. I'm going to start with Motoko._

The next morning, Keitaro walked up to the balcony where Motoko was doing her kendo practice. He sat and watched as she went through her daily exercises, slashing her sword through the air.

At first Motoko pretended not to notice him. Everyone was trying to humor him, so she checked her normal urge to send him flying for blatantly staring. But finally her curiosity and anger got the better of her. Impulsively, she stopped what she was doing, and turned towards him. She cried angrily, "What? What are you staring at, Urashima? Is this some kind of perverted thing? Are you going to stare at me all day? I think I liked you better last week when you weren't such a peeping Tom!"

Keitaro replied, "No, Motoko-chan, you misunderstand me!" and he flapped his arms in the air frantically. He stood up and walked towards her. "I'm just admiring your skill. In fact, it's something I really envy. I wish I could be half as good with a sword as you are." Motoko turned her head away, and the angry scowl on her face turned into an embarrassed blush. She never knew how to act when people complimented her, and didn't know what to say in return. "Uh, I have much to learn," she somehow stumbled out.

Keitaro pressed on, "Speaking of learning, I don't have a lot to do this summer, waiting until school begins. You all know how I've been going crazy, just trying to pass the time. I was wondering if I could ask you a favor. Could you teach me kendo? I could be your sparring partner. I know I'm nowhere near as good as you, but it must be better to practice against any person, no matter how bad, than just by yourself all the time?"

"Hrmph." Motoko frowned, trying to act stern, as if she was barely giving his idea any consideration. But secretly she was quite delighted. She was flattered that he wanted her to be his teacher, and pleasantly impressed that he wanted to learn kendo. But she couldn't admit such ideas to herself. 

Instead, she thought, _I guess it is true that practicing with someone else was much better for honing one's skills than just doing it alone, even if means fraternizing with a member of that lowly species called man. Not only that, but could this mean that Keitaro likes me in some way? Could he maybe even like me romantically? Not that I care!_

But despite her denial of interest, she began daydreaming. She had a vision of the two of them running over the roofs of the Hinata Inn, swords flying between them. Keitaro was dressed like a samurai warrior, and had the dignity and grace of an ancient warrior hero. "Motoko-chan!" she heard him yell, as their swords clashed: "Remember, if I defeat you, I get to kiss you! If you defeat me, you have to kiss me!" 

"Um, Motoko-chan?" Keitaro asked, wondering why she was staring into the sky with a pleasant smiled on her face.

She abruptly snapped back to reality. Her face burst into a deep blush, but the clueless Keitaro failed to notice, and had no idea what she was thinking. He was too busy with his own thoughts to ponder hers. 

He started again, thinking of more reasons to help convince her. "Look…" He shuffled his feet and nervously ran his hands through his hair. "I can see you're having a hard time with this idea. But, it doesn't have to be just a one-way learning experience. You'd teach me something, so I can teach you something in return."

Motoko, still recovering from her unexpected daydream, put on her stern face again. "You? What could you teach me? Is this some other kind of perverted thing, trying to get me into some compromising situation?" That's what she said, but in fact she was already looking for some way to honorably accept his proposal.

"Uhhh…" Keitaro put his hand to his glasses and thought for a minute. The idea of learning kendo had come to him spontaneously as he was watching Motoko practice, and he hadn't really thought it through. _What do I have to offer, that I could teach her?_

"Um, please don't take this the wrong way, but you've been so busy becoming an expert swordswoman your whole life, practicing all the time since you were little, that you've missed out on other things. Whenever we hang out in a group, I never hear you talk about lots of normal stuff, like what music is popular, funny jokes, what's in fashion, good books, what movies are playing… In fact, you hardly ever see movies at all.

"Please don't get me wrong" - Keitaro's arms began wildly flapping up and down, as he imagined her angrily chopping him into pieces for his presumptuousness - "I admire your dedication and single-mindedness. But maybe I could be some kind of cultural tutor, so you could be hip and cool…" At that, his low self-esteem kicked in. "Not that I'm hip and cool! But you know what I mean. I could teach you about stuff you don't know about and I do. And! And not only that" – a new thought was forming in his mind – "but I noticed you've been paying more attention to your studies this last semester. Are you planning on continuing on to college? If so, I could help you out with your studies!"

"Hmm," replied Motoko. "I don't know, Urashima. This sounds like some kind of perverted plan to get me into a darkened movie theater so you can do God-knows-what. And my sister has warned me that spending too much time around men weakens my fighting spirit. She thinks that you're harmless enough though, Heaven knows why. But on the other hand, I don't want to discourage you from learning kendo. A weakling like you would really need something like this. This could be something like the special 'Hell training' I wanted you to do last year. If you accept, you'd better be ready, because I'm not going to go easy on you. Furthermore, if you try anything weird, you'll have to answer to my sword."

"And, as a matter of fact, I could use help with my scholastic studies. As a matter of fact…" - Motoko turned away to stare into the distance and began blushing once more - "uhhh, umm, I'm thinking about applying for Toudai myself."

Keitaro dropped his jaw in surprise.

She nervously turned back to see his reaction, and was offended at his shock. "Don't laugh! Don't look at me that way!" She socked him in the jaw and knocked him to the ground. Motoko stood over him with arms folded, "I know I've never really paid attention to my studies until recently, and that it's the best university in Japan. But let's face it - you're not a mental genius. You got into Toudai through sheer hard work. And if you can do that, I can do it too! I will not allow myself to be bettered by you!"

Changing moods again, she continued nervously, "But don't get any ideas! My interest in that university has nothing to do with the fact that you're going there! That's just a coincidence! And I don't even know if that's what I'll do, it's just an idea I have…"

Her voice trailed off, and she stared off into the distance again, blushing. Deep down, she knew the reason she wanted to go to Toudai was because he was going there, even if she couldn't fathom why that motivated her. She prayed that he wouldn't see this obvious explanation for her sudden new change of direction.

"Wow, that's great!" replied Keitaro. He was genuinely impressed. "I think that's a great idea." He smiled a happy smile at Motoko, and she sheepishly, tentatively, smiled back. Once again, still largely oblivious to Motoko's feelings towards him, Keitaro completely failed to grasp Motoko's motivations.

Keitaro dramatically pounded his fist into his hand. "Let's do it then!" Motoko picked up on his enthusiasm, and they shook hands vigorously, sealing the pact.

The two of them agreed that Motoko would begin Keitaro's kendo training the next morning. In return, he would immediately start academically tutoring her so she could eventually get into Toudai. In the meantime, as she put it, "If you can point out a thing or two about popular culture, I'll try to tolerate your foolishness." He rightly took that as her way of approving the idea.

Later that day, she went with him into the city to buy a sword he needed for kendo. They shared an awkward lunch at a downtown café, as Keitaro desperately tried to think of things to say to her. Looking all around him at the people and objects near the cafe, he discussed topics like anime, basketball, and favorite rock bands, and found that Motoko knew virtually nothing about anything he was talking about. Her ignorance at least solved the lack of things to talk about, as Keitaro went into great detail explaining things like the rules of basketball.

Afterwards, Keitaro wondered, _How could she be so oblivious?_ _She does live in Japan, after all._ But at least they had a start. They could now freely interact one-to-one and not just in a group, and they had loads of new things to discuss, even if it was mostly just Keitaro explaining and Motoko absorbing or poking fun at the things he was interested in.

**  
Chapter Five: A Typical Summer Day**

The next morning however, his first kendo practice didn't start out well. Motoko and Keitaro hadn't remembered to set a time, so Keitaro woke up unusually early and went to the roof balcony, guessing that Motoko would be there. She was nowhere to be seen. He went looking for her and wound up in front of her room.

"Motoko-chan, are you in there?" he said as he opened the door. In his excitement to start kendo he wasn't thinking straight - Motoko was still getting dressed. She was picking a shirt up off of the ground, giving Keitaro an excellent view of her panty-clad ass wiggling high up in the air.

She picked up her sword from the ground, and stood up to face him. "Do you know the meaning of the word 'knock'?" she screamed. "You want a lesson? Here's your first lesson! Secret Art: Rolling Thunder!" She flashed her sword forward, and Keitaro found himself flying backwards as a sound like a loud sonic boom crashed in his ears. He ended up slightly embedded in the wood paneling in the wall across the hallway, like a Wile E. Coyote cartoon character.

...

But such accidents were par for the course, now that Keitaro was back to his usual self. As time passed from July into August, Keitaro began feeling better and better, despite the occasional flying punch or kick.

His incident with Naru back in early June was already beginning to seem like a distant nightmare. Although it and the resultant blow to his self-esteem was always somewhere in the back of his mind, he tried not to consciously think about anything having to do with Naru. With the Hinata Inn all repaired and running like a well-oiled machine, but with the new semester still a ways off, he devoted more of his time to being with his only friends, the other Hinata Inn residents. Previously, Keitaro always seemed to be around Naru, but now he devoted more time and attention to the other girls than he ever did before. Secret crushes had a chance to bloom.

Each morning, after waking up, Keitaro would go to the roof patio and practice kendo with Motoko. But much to both his and Motoko's surprise, he turned out to be surprisingly good at it, and intimate accidents were kept to a minimum during their practices. Although he remained clumsy in all other aspects, he showed remarkable dexterity and quickness as soon as he picked up a sword. Perhaps sword fighting brought out a sense of romantic daring-do born of countless novels and TV shows he had grown up with. But for whatever the reason, he found these morning exercises completely exhausting, but in a satisfying and exhilarating way.

Drenched with sweat, he would then take a bath in his private little tub, and then go see what everyone else was doing. Normally Suu would be hiding somewhere, waiting for him, and then surprise him with a quick kick to the face or chest, and finally tackle him with a hug. Then, usually, he, Suu, Sara, and Shinobu would play silly games. Even Mitsune would join in sometimes, especially since she usually didn't have anything better to do. If nothing much was happening, he'd take a nap or just laze around.

In the late afternoons, he and Motoko would study together around a table in the main lobby. Motoko had just turned 18 years old and recently graduated from high school, but she had nowhere to go for college any time soon. She hadn't applied anywhere, and in fact wouldn't have even qualified to take Toudai's entrance exam if she wanted to. So she was already a de facto ronin - studying for the chance to pass the Toudai entrance exam later in the year, just as Keitaro had done for the past three years. She needed all the time she could get to study, too, as she had never paid much attention to her studies and had always been in the bottom half of her class.

Keitaro had bought a number of prep books for himself, especially on archeology. Although most of his classes would be in basic subjects for the first few semesters, he was already excitedly anticipating taking classes taught by Seta, the Toudai archeology teacher who was also his occasional part-time boss and the de facto father of Sara.

Although Motoko and Keitaro would study most every day, they made slow progress. There were too many distractions, as people would always be coming and going through the lobby and competing for their attention. They would have done better in either Motoko's or Keitaro's room, but the traditional-minded Motoko thought either setting would be inappropriate, and frankly she was scared of being alone with Keitaro in a bedroom. The more time she spent with him, the stronger her crush for him grew, but she was still in extreme denial.

It didn't help their academic concentration, either, that the two of them were starting to socialize more and do things outside of the Hinata Inn, as part of Motoko's "cultural training." For instance, Keitaro took Motoko to a bookstore to find new pleasure reading that would interest her. They slowly grew more accustomed to talking and hanging out just one on one, instead of part of a group.

They even started going to the occasional movie together. But they would only see matinees, and only with Suu or someone else joining them, so it wouldn't be perceived as a "date." They mostly saw kung fu and action movies. Keitaro was somewhat rueful about inviting Suu, as the movies only inspired her even further to spontaneously kick and punch, usually in his direction. But Suu's playful enthusiasm was still fun to have along, though he was in more pain the better she got at kicking.

As the afternoon would come to an end, oftentimes Keitaro would go help Shinobu cook dinner. She didn't really need the help, but he noticed that his presence there would make her day brighter, and at the same time he was learning a lot about cooking. Previously, boiling water for a cup of instant noodles was about all he could manage competently. But with Shinobu's encouragement and enthusiasm, he found himself improving.

Evenings continued much as before, with games, TV, gambling, partying, dips in the hot springs, and general lazing around. Mitsune would repeatedly try to get Keitaro drunk on sake, since he was her only potential serious drinking partner. The others were too young to drink much except for Motoko, and Motoko preferred drinking vinegar to alcohol. Motoko had loosened up a lot since she'd first arrived at the inn, but she still had a long way to go before anyone would put the words "Motoko" and "easygoing" anywhere near each other.

Once Keitaro and Mitsune had had a few glasses to drink, her teasing and tempting of him would kick into high gear. Now that Naru was gone and Keitaro's libido had been restored, Mitsune found there was nothing more fun than getting him flustered. Like taking candy from a baby, it was so easy to manipulate him! All she'd have to do is flash him any view of her impressive breasts, and he'd be blushing and stumbling through his words like an imbecile. But she never got tired of it.

And so it went on, day after day. Everyone was happy.  


**  
Chapter Six: A Female Keitaro?**

Everyone was happy, that is, but Motoko. Because of her new tutoring exchange pact with Keitaro, she was spending much more time with him than ever before, but that time together was an exquisite torture for her. She'd been in love with him for a long time now, but that love was steadily growing. Just a few months earlier, she and Keitaro had an intimate mouth-to-mouth kiss. True, it was done in the height of "battle," as part of her duty to create a distraction and recover a cursed sword. But a kiss was still a kiss. She couldn't get the kiss out of her mind.

By night, she would dream of Keitaro kissing her all over, and would happily imagine what it would be like if she had lost her battle with her sister, and the marriage ceremony between her and Keitaro had been forced to take place. In these dreams, Keitaro was a great swordsman, and together they ran the dojo that had been run by Motoko's descendants for generations.

Suu slept in Motoko's bed every night, because Suu had never slept alone. Oftentimes, Suu would hold Motoko in a death-grip of a hug while she was sleeping. This was really starting to frustrate Motoko, partly because it meant she never had a chance to be alone and luxuriate in her dreaming. But, more disturbingly, on several occasions she had woke up in the middle of the night, slowly coming out of a pleasant dream about kissing Keitaro and feeling him hold her in her arms, only to discover to her horror that it was all a dream, and it was Suu who was holding her! She was petrified that she would kiss Suu in her sleep or do some other accidental intimate act. She worried too that she would say Keitaro's name or some other stupid thing in her sleep, and that Suu would hear and tell everyone. 

But unlike say, Shinobu, Motoko wasn't content to live in a dream world and just pretend that Keitaro was really hers. By day, Motoko would curse her impure thoughts, and try to deny their very existence. She hadn't seen their intimate kiss cause any change in Keitaro. Sure, he would still fall onto her or accidentally grope her as he always did, but he never mentioned their kiss or their near brush with marriage.

So her days passed all too slowly, and her pleasant nighttime dreams only increased her sense of shame and weakness in failing to control her emotions. She would vow that the next time Keitaro asked her and Suu to a movie she would say no, but when it actually came to it, she would find herself saying yes. The more she enjoyed herself, the more upset she felt about it.

Mornings were not too bad for her. When Motoko and Keitaro would practice kendo together, she was in her natural element. Dressed in her fully covering practice robes, things went relatively smoothly, though of course Keitaro would sometimes make some accidental contact, and she would be obliged to launch a punch at him that would send him spiraling towards the clouds.

But when they would sit next to each other studying, she was out of her element, and increasingly all fingers and thumbs. For starters, she didn't know what to wear. Her past attempts to dress more feminine had been overdone and ended in disastrous failure. She tentatively began wearing more "normal" clothing like blue jeans and t-shirts, although her wardrobe was extremely limited in those kinds of items. Subconsciously, she wanted to seduce Keitaro with sexy clothing and provocative looks, but she could no better do that than she could speak Swahili. She knew that with both Naru and Mutsumi gone she probably would never have a better chance at romance with Keitaro, but that made her inability to act all the more frustrating.

So, ironically, she found herself acting more and more like Keitaro. Now that she was a ronin, she bitterly recalled how much she used to chide him for being the same. But even worse, she was becoming clumsy like him - dropping books, spilling drinks, and accidentally bumping into him.

One day, as they sat studying together, she absent-mindedly put her hand on his crotch while reaching for an eraser. She immediately shot up like rocket and fled the room. As she ran off, she managed to blurt out the excuse, "Gotta go find the toilet!"

Panting and red faced, she entered the bathroom and took a look at herself in the mirror. "Arrggh!" she said under her breath. "'Gotta go find the toilet?' What kind of idiocy is that??? I know where the bathroom is!"

_I'm beginning to sound and act just like that idiot Keitaro,_ she thought to herself. _Oh no! Maybe his idiocy is contagious! I'm close to him every day - I must have caught his idiot disease. Or even worse - what if I'm catching his pervertedness? I put my hand on his crotch, even if only for a second! That's exactly the kind of thing he would do - I'm turning into a female Keitaro!_ She began pacing back and forth inside the bathroom, striking her arms into the air one minute, then folding them over her head the next as she mumbled to herself and paced.

"Something has to change. Every day I'm getting worse and worse. Where is my self-control? I can't concentrate on my studies or my kendo. If this keeps up, I'm going to have to leave the inn and become a nun or something!"

She stopped pacing and began to look at her face closely in the mirror. "Am I cute?" She asked herself, with a pleading look in her eyes. "Keitaro has said I'm cute. He even agreed to marry me, in theory..." Suddenly, her pessimism began flooding back. "No Motoko, you're a no-good, non-cute, nothing girl!"

She looked around. "Did I just say that out loud?" she wondered. "If anybody had heard me, I would just die. What if my sister could see me now?" SIGH "Something has to change, and soon!"

She pulled herself together emotionally, and went back out to continue her studying session with Keitaro.


	2. Part 2

**The Kiss That Never Was, Part Two**

**Chapter Seven: Death By Teasing**

Little did Motoko know, but something was about to change. In fact, it began that very evening. It all started when Mitsune threw yet another one of her parties. At dinner, Mitsune suggested they should all go play cards after dinner, but as a twist they should do it in the hot springs, and have Keitaro join them there as well. Of course, there was resistance to such an unprecedented plan. Shinobu, with her big, pleading eyes, looked at Mitsune and nervously asked, "The h-h-hot springs? With Sempai?!?" She couldn't believe it.

"Of course!" Mitsune replied. "Keitaro has matured a lot lately. You don't think he would do anything perverted now, do you? Would you Keitaro?" Before he could get a word in edgewise, she pressed on, "Of course not! And besides, we'll all be covered up with towels and whatnot."

Naru would have had a fit at the very idea, but she wasn't there. Normally Motoko would have objected too, but it seemed now as if her brain had turned to Jell-O - she found she couldn't speak up at all.

So Mitsune's enthusiasm carried the day. Down in the hot springs with all the others, submerged in the water and wearing just a towel, she thought to herself, _Everyone here but me is so innocent and naïve. This is just too much fun! _She immediately set to plying Keitaro and even the younger girls with alcohol. Because everyone, especially Keitaro, was so nervous about the situation, soon they all were drinking more than they should.

Before long, everyone was laughing and joking and having a great time playing cards. Mitsune had been teasing Keitaro a lot lately, but decided to up the ante. Mitsune made sure she was sitting directly across from him, to tease him all the better. It seemed everything she said or did was causing him to blush:

"This game is boring. Why don't we play strip poker instead?" blush

"No, that wouldn't work, we're all nearly totally naked as it is!" blush

"Keitaro, if you're getting too drunk to make it back to your bed, don't worry, you can sleep in mine." blush

"Woops! Where did my towel go? Oh, looks like I dropped it again!" Keitaro's eyes bug out of his head, followed by a double blush

In the type of accidental innocence that usually plagued him, Keitaro had forgotten to wear a bathing suit, and entered into the hot spring waters wearing only a towel wrapped around his waist. All of Mitsune's teasing and frequent close-up towel dropping began to have an effect, and before long his towel tented up in his lap. His face, already red from the alcohol, turned much redder.

Mitsune's mirth doubled. Laughing out loud, she pointed towards his crotch and yelled out, "Keitaro, what's that? It looks like you have some kind of projectile under your towel there. Maybe it's one of Suu's rockets. Hey Suu! Are you missing one of your rockets?"

Keitaro's face turned so red that it would have set off an infrared detector. But he couldn't think of anything to say, and only belatedly did it occur to him to plunge his hands into the water and hide the bulge under his towel as best he could.

But no sooner had he done that, than Mitsune reached behind her back, grabbed a dry towel on a rock, and handed it to Keitaro. "Here, Keitaro, can you hold this towel for a minute?" Keitaro had to take his hands out of the water to hold the towel up and keep it dry. Needless to say, the towel around his waist immediately sprung a tent again, and Mitsune once again doubled over with laughter. Mitsune's wet towel slipped down again, causing Keitaro's brain to give up and completely fail to wonder why he needed to be holding her dry towel up in the air in the first place. But still she kept teasing.

"When I said earlier that you matured a lot lately, I didn't know that you'd grown in more ways that one!"

Keitaro looked around for a hole he could crawl into and die in. No such luck. He sank his body as far down into the water as he could. All the other girls were staring at his face, with varying degrees of befuddlement and/or redness on their faces. Sara, the only one not drinking, had no clue whatsoever what Mitsune was talking about, but she laughed, thinking it was some kind of fun game. Motoko was in shock at her impure thoughts about Keitaro's predicament. If her brain was Jell-O before, it leaked out of her head and fallen into puddles on the ground now.

Mitsune teased Keitaro mercilessly the rest of the evening. With the restraining influences of Haruka, Mutsumi, and/or Naru nowhere to be seen, Mitsune had a field day. She pushed her luck with double-entendres that most of the rest of the group could only vaguely guess the meaning of, but didn't really understand.

Or sometimes they did understand, but were too shy to admit it. For instance, Mitsune said to Motoko, sitting nearby, "Motoko-chan, I understand that Keitaro has been practicing his sword skills on you. Keitaro, can you show us your sword, and just what you can do with it?"

Both Keitaro and Motoko vied to see who could be more embarrassed, sinking their heads low into the water while Mitsune guffawed.

But it wasn't all teasing. There was a lot of fun conversation and playfulness all around. But then, more or less all at once, too much alcohol brought on sleepiness, and everyone staggered off to their beds.

Keitaro was so discombobulated from the sake wine, the teasing, everyone's staring, and the impure thoughts he had suddenly found himself having about Mitsune, that he slammed into more than one wall before he found his way back into his room.

...

In her bed that night, Mitsune still chuckled to herself about the evening. _That was just about the most fun I think I've ever had," _she mused._ "I'll have to be more careful, or else I'll kill myself with fun! Everyone in this bunch is so pure and clueless that only Keitaro really knew what I was doing and saying, and he was powerless to resist my charms. Like putty in my hands! Mitsune, you've still got it, heh__-__heh!_

_In fact, why am I just teasing him all the time? It's been months since my last serious attempt to seduce him. What am I waiting for now? Maybe I'm afraid for the first time that I might actually succeed? I've always been in love with him, but never acted. Lately, he's been getting more muscular and handsome. Finally gotten into Toudai - he's a very eligible bachelor. He's probably gonna be a rich doctor or something before long. Hmm._

_I've always held back a bit because of Naru, but now she's out of the picture. Of course she told me the other day that she's been trying to forget about him but just can't forget, that maybe she really loves him, blah-de-blah-blah-blah, but she's always going on like that. The two of them were never gonna get it on, even if you locked them together naked in a room. Hmm, not a bad idea, actually! Maybe I should try that idea out with him myself._

_Now that I think of it, it would be downright irresponsible of me, and neglectful of my role as the only really experienced woman around here, if I DIDN'T seduce him immediately! He's ready to move beyond kissing, and someone needs to show him the ropes, or that hopeless romantic will be too shy to ever learn. I'll just have to take one for the team, he__e-__he__e-__he__e__._

_Hmm, but how to go about it? Seducing Keitaro should be no problem now that he's no longer all moony over Naru, but how to take care of the inevitable fallout? Every single girl here has a passionate crush on him, even if I'm the only one clever enough to notice. Except of course for Sara, and that's only __be__c__ause__ she's nine years old. Poor Shinobu, the idea that someone else would kiss Keitaro would just about kill her. The idea of someone actually having sex with him would completely blow her gaskets for sure._

_Let's see... I have to find some way to get Keitaro in bed and yet have some kind of plausible cover story, some kind of exit strategy, so Motoko won't cut me into pieces, Suu won't launch a host of rockets at me, and Shinobu won't kill herself or something. I'll have my fun and then things'll have to go back to normal for a while, or else people are going to freak out. I know Keitaro might not have feelings for me now, but after I use all my womanly wiles on him, who knows? He's fair game, now._

_But I have to make it look accidental. Unavoidable. Nobody's fault. I don't want to get the others all mad at Keitaro either; that would be too mean. He'd have no idea what hit him. Let's see now..._

Mitsune rolled around in her futon, restlessly thinking and thinking. Finally, she bolted upright, naked, and thrust a finger into the air. "Aha! Eureka, I've got it!" _The perfect solution: an aphrodisiac!_

**  
Chapter Eight: Suu's Original Idea**

The next morning, Mitsune woke up late as usual and with a bad hangover, as she too frequently did, but soon the excitement of her new idea had her up and pacing around the room. With her usual flair for the dramatic, she even dug up a Sherlock Holmes-type hat and put it on her head, making it the only thing she was wearing. She talked to herself as she paced.

"Planning the perfect crime! What to do, what to do? Using an aphrodisiac to sleep with Keitaro is such a brilliant plan; I've really outdone myself. The beauty of the plan is that it doesn't matter if the aphrodisiac works or not! All that matters is that people think that it works, so that neither Keitaro nor I are to blame. Just blame the aphrodisiac! Ha-ha!"

"The problem is, if I come up with my own aphrodisiac, that'll look too suspicious, and I'll be blamed for bringing it into the inn in the first place. Someone else has to come up with it, and today, 'cos I'm too excited now to wait around! Plus, the aphrodisiac has to be made before our plans to go to the beach next week. Not only that, but Motoko and Keitaro have been far too chummy with each other lately. And who knows when Mutsumi is going to come back from vacation? She and Keitaro will be in each other's arms in a matter of days once she's back, if I don't do something about it. I don't know if Mutsumi just has accidental luck or if she's even more clever and conniving than I am, but either way, I'll have to act fast if I'm going to make Keitaro mine. Even worse, Naru might decide to come back any day. Then things'll go back to just how they were before, and I can't stand any more of that."

"No, someone has to come up with some aphrodisiac, and today! There's really only one option." She started putting on her clothes.

...

A short time later, Mitsune walked through Motoko's room, now empty, and walked into the wild jungle garden behind it. "Hello! Suu-chan? Good morning! You in there?"

"Over here!" yelled Suu.

Mitsune walked through the jungle, and finally spied Suu sitting on a giant metal turtle. Suu was wearing a welder's mask, and sparks were flying where she was welding the turtle's seams together.

"What's the Sherlock Holmes hat for?" Suu cried over the noise as soon as she spied Mitsune.

"Oh that? He-he, nothing at all." She grabbed the hat off of her head and held it behind her back. "What are you working on?"

Suu put down her tools and flipped up her welding mask. "Thanks for asking! This is the latest model mecha-turtle! It's going to have precision guidance missiles that hone directly onto the metal in Keitaro's glasses!"

"That's incredible, Suu. I've never understood how you're always able to make all this stuff. In fact, I'll bet you could make just about anything, can't you?"

"Well, I don't know about that, Mitsune, but I try. I love a good challenge."

"I'll bet you do. I'll bet I could think of some things you couldn't make."

Suu sat up eagerly. "Okay, what? Try me!"

"Hmm, what would be really nice to have? How about... Could you turn the hot springs into of sake wine instead of water? Then I'd be in heaven!"

Suu frowned. "I can't do miracles. However... I could create my own still, and make enough sake for you to drown in it. That would be fun! Suu the bootlegger! Working hand in hand with Al Capone!" she said, suddenly smiling. But then, reconsidering, she frowned, "But I think you're got more than enough alcohol as it is, now."

"Yeah, I guess that's true, Suu. And I'm sure you could do it, too. But I'm also sure there are things you can't make. For instance... I know nobody can make an aphrodisiac."

"Aphrodisiac? Is that edible? Sounds yummy!"

"You know, an aphrodisiac. A love potion to get a man and woman to love each other."

"Oh, right. Sure, that would be no problem!"

"How can you say that? There are thousands of fake ones, but no one has ever made a love potion that's been proven to work. It's impossible. If someone could make one, why, they'd make billions of dollars!"

Defensively, Suu responded, "Shows what you know. It's true I don't know much about medicines and herbs and that kind of thing, but I don't have to. Back in my country we have all kinds of love potions. It's really nothing to get excited about. Not like my new cutting-edge mecha-turtle here." Suu patted the turtle's head.

"Really? I wonder if one of those potions would work," prodded Mitsune. "Wouldn't it be interesting to have such a potion here? Imagine if someone had a secret crush on someone, but didn't know how to go about attracting that person. Maybe they're too young, too inexperienced. I'll bet a love potion would really come in handy. It's too bad no such thing actually exists..."

Suu took the bait. She thought of her own crush on Keitaro, just as Mitsune figured she would. "It does TOO exist, and I'll prove it to you! All I have to do is find some herbs and whip them together, and I can have a powerful love potion to show you by this evening!"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" asked Mitsune, suddenly pretending to be concerned. "I mean, a working aphrodisiac, that could cause all kinds of havoc. I don't know if I'm so keen on your love potion idea."

"It's a great idea, Kitsune! Don't knock it! Why, it'll be just the thing the next time the moon..." Suu immediately cut off her sentence. "Well, never mind about that. The point is, it's a great idea, and I'm going to make an aphrodisiac whether you like it or not!"

"Okay, if you feel that way, I guess there's not much I can do to discourage you. I must admit, I am curious if it works or not. We could make a lot of money from this! When you have it ready, let me know, so we can make sure if it works, or if this is just a lot of hot air. I'll be impressed if you can finish it by tonight."

"Roger! Just you wait and see!" Suu hopped off the mecha-turtle, and immediately began running around, gathering materials for her new project.

Mitsune, walking off, thought to herself_,__ Perfect! That was too easy! The only problem with getting Suu to make it is that she may actually make an aphrodisiac that really works. I know whom she plans to use it on! Let's hope there's no red moon any time soon. When she's done, I'm going to have to switch the potion with something harmless, to make sure that I'm the only one who uses the real thing._

_Sorry, Suu! I'm so naughty!_

**  
Chapter Nine: Have Pity On Tama**

A few hours later, Keitaro and Motoko were trying to study in the main lobby. Both were tired from the sake and the hot springs party the night before. Motoko was especially out of sorts, because she so rarely drank any alcohol. Her head kept nodding down, and her thoughts kept drifting and drifting...

Suddenly, Keitaro dramatically stood up. "Enough!" he shouted. "What's the point of all of this studying?" He grabbed the low table in front of him, and heaved it over, sending books and papers flying in all directions. "I have no eyes for reading books. I only have eyes for you!" He pulled a stunned Motoko up from where she was sitting, and then dipped her down like a professional dancer would. "Let me kiss you, Motoko-chan." She trembled as his face drew closer and closer. "There's only one word that means anything to me: Motoko-chan! Motoko-chan... Motoko-chan?"

"Motoko-chan?" She woke up to the sound of Keitaro repeating her name and the feel of him shaking her shoulder.

_Whaaa?_ she thought. _That was a dream? _She looked around, and the table was still in its usual place. _Damn, that was so good. No, wait. What am I thinking?_

Keitaro was saying to her, "Motoko, you must have really nodded off there for a second. How is it you can fall asleep sitting up? You sure you want to keep studying?"

"What?" She was still fumbling around for the on switch in her brain. "Uh, yeah. I'm fine." She took a good look at Keitaro. He looked particularly geeky at that moment, with his eyes hidden behind his glasses and his nose back in his books. The Keitaro in her dream was decisive, deep-voiced, and ruggedly handsome. _I can't possibly be in love with this guy in front of me! It must be the effects of the alcohol from last night. I'm never going to drink again! Motoko, you're a total freak._

She shook her head clear and went back to her book.

...

Meanwhile, Mitsune sat in Suu's garden, watching Suu put the last ingredients in her love potion. Suu lorded over a giant black cauldron in the middle of her private jungle. It looked exactly like the kind of cauldron that jungle cannibals would place explorers and missionaries in the old movies, except for the drawing of three eyes painted on the side. She stirred the giant body of liquid with a large ladle, making her look just like a witch. Perhaps with an intentional flair for the dramatic, she wore a suspiciously witchy-looking hat too.

"You sure are making a lot, Suu!" said Mitsune.

"Not actually, Mitsune-san. We have to let this boil for several hours. When it's done, there will only be a few bottles' worth of highly concentrated love potion. And I'm afraid that I have to use some special herbs I brought from back home, so I won't be able to make any more until I can get some more of those."

"There goes our money making idea," sighed Mitsune. "For now, at least."

"Yeah, well, we have to make sure it works, too. This is an ancient family recipe, but to be honest, I've never made it before, so I'm not sure if I did it right."

"What's it supposed to taste like?"

"I think like a very bitter tea. Kinda looks like a murky, dark tea, too."

"How much does one need to drink for one to, uh, ... for it to have an effect?"

"I don't know that either. We'll have to experiment. Mitsune, have you thought of how we're going to do that?"

"Yeah, I was thinking... You've made a mechanical Tama that is about the same size as Tama the turtle, and it even moves and acts on its own just like a real turtle, right?"

"Yep. Mecha-Tama Version 4.0!"

"Is Mecha-Tama a male or female?"

"I didn't really give it a gender. With turtles, males and females don't really look or act much differently from each other, you know."

"Okay, but could we get the female Tama to think Mecha-Tama is a male? I'm thinking we don't want to try it on a real human, 'cos we don't know what the effect will be. Plus, the only male around here is Keitaro, and we don't know if it will turn him into a raving sex maniac or what. So I think it's best to try with a turtle."

"I guess that can work, but darn."

"What?"

"I figured as long as I had the cauldron and all my spices out, I could make an excellent turtle stew soup!"

"You're too much!" laughed Mitsune. "But Suu, remember this love potion is a secret just between you and me, right? If someone like Keitaro got his hands on this, who knows what would happen. So we try it on the turtles, and then we put it in a safe place, okay?"

"Okay. In fact, I'm already planning my next invention, which, working in combination with the potion, will... uh...  the.... uhhhhhh, well, that's not important." Suu got very red in the face. "The important thing is that we get it to work on Tama-chan here, right? And if it doesn't work, we can still eat her!"

"Yes to the love potion, no to the turtle eating!"

Mitsune smiled inwardly. She thought to herself, _Looks like Suu can be as big a schemer as I can. I wonder what she's got planned. All the more reason to act fast with my scheme._

...

It took Suu many more hours, but by the time it grew dark everything was ready for the experiment to begin. Mitsune had found Tama and Suu had found Mecha-Tama, and the two turtles were on the ground in Suu's garden, facing each other.

Suu, now wearing a white lab coat and acting like a dispassionate scientist, announced to Mitsune, "Witness our test subject and future meal, the turtle Tama-chan. Nose to nose with Mecha-Tama, she shows no interest in 'him' whatsoever. Now, we add our experimental variable, the aphrodisiac."

Mitsune poured the aphrodisiac into a tiny bowl, and placed in directly in front of Tama. She noticed the liquid looked and smelled just like tea, as Suu had predicted. _Even better for my plans_. Tama began licking up the liquid in the bowl.

Mitsune and Suu sat and waited. And waited. Both turtles just sat there. When one turtle would wander off, it would be pushed back into place. Finally, Suu said, "Look, I think something's happening to Tama-chan's face."

Sure enough, a strange expression began to appear on the face of the turtle. Turtle's faces are not very expressive, but there was no doubt: if there could be a visibly love starved turtle, then it was Tama right then. She looked at Mecha-Tama in a strange way, causing a look of startled concern to cross the mechanical turtle's face.

Now, Tama was trying to look coy and seductive. "Myu," she cooed. She began sidling up towards Mecha-Tama. Mecha-Tama was beginning to look panicky. He began backing away, and she started edging forward even faster. "Myu. Myu-myu-myu!"

Suu cried, "Goody! Look, it's working! I told you it would work!" She clapped her hands together in joy.

"I'll be damned," replied Mitsune in wonder. They gave each other a celebratory hug.

Just then, Mecha-Tama took off in full flight, and Tama lit off after him. Suu and Mitsune ducked as the two turtles began careening around the jungle, flying every which way. Finally, both turtles flew up and out of the garden, and were lost to sight.

Mitsune thought to herself, _Damn, I can't believe Suu actually did it. Be careful of what you wish for! And that stuff is damn powerful too!_

"Suu," she said out loud, "What will happen to those two?"

"Not much, I think. For starters, Tama is female, and Mecha-Tama has no sex organs, so if Tama catches up with Mecha, nothing CAN happen. No doubt Tama is going to be really frustrated."

"How long are they likely to be chasing each other like that? Your potion is really, frighteningly powerful!"

"I don't know how long - we'll have to keep an eye on them. But such a reaction isn't likely to happen in a person. Remember that Tama drank about half her body's weight of the love drug. A person would have to drink a couple of gallons to get the same effect, and we don't even have that much. I think for a human, a glassful or maybe even a thimbleful should be enough."

"Thank heavens for that," replied Mitsune. "But all the same, this is dangerous stuff. I suggest we immediately lock it up. There's a high shelf in the kitchen that can be locked. I suggest we put it there."

"Okay. You can put that wherever you like. I'm going to go find Tama-chan. But I should let you know that its effect is supposed to wear off after a week or two, but it can remain strong much longer if you keep it cold." Looking into the sky, she began yelling, "Tama, Tama, where are you? I've got a comfy boiling cauldron here with your name on it!" and soon wandered off.

Mitsune stayed behind with the bottle of aphrodisiac. It was about the size of a large pitcher one could fit into a refrigerator_. I guess that's where I'll have to put it, in the kitchen's refrigerator._ _Now I'll have to figure out some kind of new excuse to prevent anyone else from drinking it.___

Thinking further, it occurred to her, _The way that Suu didn't really care what I did with it means that she must have her own supply that she hid. No doubt she put some away while I was looking for Tama, and I'll never find it buried in her jungle and mountains of things. Clever girl! I'm sure she'll wait until the moon turns red and her body temporarily matures from a 15 year old into someone my age, and then try it on Keitaro. I'll have to cross that bridge when I come to it, and figure out how to keep her from him. But until then..._ She looked at the jar of aphrodisiac in her hand, and grinned a very happy grin.

**  
Chapter Ten: Set Up Like A Bowling Pin**

The first thing Mitsune did was put the love potion in a pitcher in the refrigerator of the main kitchen. She stuck a big label on it that read, "Warning: Poison!" 

_That'll have to do for now, until I can think of something better._

She then sat around drinking sake, and waiting for Keitaro. He had gone to another movie with Motoko. Suu said she was too absorbed in a secret project to go, so Keitaro had asked Sara and Shinobu along instead. As a result, they went to see a cartoon movie, Chicken Run, instead of their usual action fare.

The moviegoers also had dinner out, so Mitsune fixed herself some instant noodles while she waited. _Motoko and him have been doing this movie thing more and more. I think that's the sixth or seventh movie they've seen. And in the evening this time, with dinner, too! I don't buy this three or more people going idea, either - these are slowly turning into dates. Grrr._

_Things are getting pretty hot and heavy between those two. The only thing temporarily stopping something from happening between them is that they're both so clueless about their own feelings and the other's feelings. I'm sure even Keitaro must be at least dimly aware of his growing feelings for Motoko, but no doubt he's still hoping he can get back with Naru when she returns in early September. Or maybe he's thinking of Mutsumi now, and waiting for her._

_If I'm going to win Keitaro for my own, I'm going to have to juggle all those balls. Keep him away from Motoko, Naru, Mutsumi, Suu, Shinobu, and who knows who else. Impossible! It was so much easier when the only real possibility was Naru, and her only reaction to his advances was to punch him!_

Just then, Keitaro, Motoko, Sara and Shinobu walked into the lobby, back from the movie. Mitsune came out of the kitchen and glanced at the clock. It was about 10 PM.

"Hey guys, how was the movie?"

Keitaro replied, "It was good, but I thought Wallace and Gromit was better." He turned to Motoko. "That's another thing I'll have to teach you about. Wallace and Gromit is really funny. And Motoko, you didn't really have to teach me what it feels like to be on the receiving end of your 'Secret attack: Red Lotus Flower!'" Keitaro rubbed his freshly bruised head ruefully.

"Someone has to teach you some manners," Motoko huffed.

The shy Shinobu piped up. "I thought it was great, but I feel so sad for the chickens." Her face quickly changed from joy to sadness. "I don't know how I feel about eating chicken now."

Keitaro put his hand on Shinobu's head and mussed her hair patronizingly. "Don't worry about that, it's just a movie. And by the way, thank you all for coming with me."

He gave Sara a big hug, and then gave Shinobu a big hug. Shinobu cried out, "Any time you want, Sempai, any time!" Her face was beaming.

Keitaro and Motoko then closed towards each other as if to hug, but at the last second both thought better of it and awkwardly pulled away. Instead, they gave each other formal bows, and furiously studied objects on far off walls and ceilings, to avoid making eye contact.

Mitsune watched from a detached position and privately mused, _I was right. Those two are about ready to go get a room together._

Keitaro tried to think of something to say, to break the awkwardness. "Thank you also for coming, Motoko-chan. Did you, uh, see cartoon movies as a kid?"

"No, not even then. This was a first. The movie was okay, but I really need to watch my budget in the future. Thank you all, and good night. Oh, and Keitaro, sorry about the blow to the head, but you really have to be more careful when you're reaching for popcorn." Motoko walked off towards bed, as did Sara and Shinobu.

That left just Mitsune and Keitaro. Mitsune had to grab his attention before he also walked off. "Keitaro, I'm angry with you!"

That worked. "What did I do?" He used his arms to shield his face from an expected punch. "It was accident! How was I to know that when I was reaching for the popcorn, she would..."

"Don't worry I'm not going to hit you," interrupted Mitsune. "You don't have to hide your face from me."

With that, he pulled his hands from his face and took his first good look at Mitsune since he got back from the movie. She had her arms folded over her chest the whole time, and now she put them back at her side. To his surprise, that revealed an extremely low cut dress that showed more of her tremendous breasts than his mind could properly handle. She even subtly pulled her arms backwards, which thrust her chest out.

Immediately, all the memories of the previous night in the hot springs with the towel-dropping Mitsune flooded back into his mind. Blood simultaneously flooded into a certain part of his lower anatomy, and his nose threatened to bleed.

"Wh-what is it, Mitsune?"

"I think you're avoiding me. I didn't see you at all today, and then this evening you invited everyone who wasn't busy to the movies, except me. I've been sitting here bored all evening." She then got up from the lobby and walked into the kitchen, as if in a huff.

Keitaro followed her. "I'm truly sorry, Mitsune! I didn't think! Please forgive me!"

Mitsune, still acting aloof, went to the refrigerator and poured drinks for Keitaro and herself. "That's okay, I understand. You can't be with everyone all the time. Here have a drink, you must be thirsty."

"Thanks." They both sat down at the kitchen table.

What Keitaro didn't notice was that while Mitsune had pour a glass of iced tea for both of them, half of the liquid that went into Keitaro's glass had come from a pitcher labeled: "Warning: Poison!" Mitsune had no desire to test the strange love potion on herself, and she didn't need a potion to overcome inhibitions in the first place. She had instead been nursing herself on her usual aphrodisiac - heavy amounts of alcohol.

"But the one thing I'm worried about, Keitaro, is that I've offended you. The fact that I didn't see you today - is it because I offended you last night? I must apologize - I teased you so much - you must be angry with me! I just couldn't help it; you're just so fun to tease." She smiled, and even as she was saying this, she folded her arms underneath her breasts, causing them to stick out even more than before. Mitsune had been teasing and tempting Keitaro so much in the past few weeks since he had recovered from his mourning over Naru that she practically did it as a matter of course, without thinking.

"No, no, no! You didn't offend me. It was my fault. I shouldn't have entered the hot springs wearing only a towel. I was asking for trouble." Keitaro struggled valiantly to keep his eyes from drifting down towards Mitsune's chest.

Mitsune drank from her glass of tea, and then brought the glass to her chest, causing Keitaro's eyes to finally lose their battle and settle there. She said, "It wasn't your fault. It was my fault. I really enjoy teasing you - it's a weakness of mine. For the past few weeks, I've been teasing you more than ever before - I just find it fun. But I'll stop if I've offended you." Mitsune was now absentmindedly slowly rubbing the glass of tea against her right breast. The condensation on the glass was causing the thin material to become transparent. 

Keitaro realized with an inward gasp, _She's not wearing a bra, and I can see… Well, let's just say Naru wouldn't be happy if she could see me right now!_ He reflexively winced, expecting a blow from Naru.

"Uhhhhhhhhh...." He finally managed to put coherent words in his mouth: "No, its fine." He finally tore his eyes away from Mitsune's chest by putting his hands on his glasses and forcibly turning his head up with his hands. "After all, I'm the perverted guy, right? I can take anything you can dish out," he added, gamely.

Mitsune smiled. "Great! You're a lot of fun. If you're not mad at me then, are you willing to immediately make up for missed time? I've been so bored this evening..."

"Yeah sure."

"All right! Let's play some more gambling games, then. Meet me in my room in five minutes, and I'll have the cards ready. Now drink up that tea and let's get going!"

"Uh, okay." Mitsune closely watched him drink.

Keitaro was still openly ogling Mitsune's body. _Damn, what did I just agree to?_ Keitaro thought to himself. _I've never been in Mitsune's room late at night before. Everyone else has gone to bed - it's going to be just the two of us! And I just gave her a green light to tease me again as much as she did last night._

Just then, Mitsune stood up and turned around, causing Keitaro to notice that Mitsune was wearing a skirt so short, that to call it "mini" would have been a gross over exaggeration. Mitsune was tempted to pretend to drop something, allowing him to gawk at her ass, but then it occurred to her that she might frighten him off. _The important thing is to get him into my room, and then it__'s__ all over, heh-heh._

She fluttered her eyelashes innocently. "See you there in five minutes?"

"I'll be there." Keitaro drank the last of the liquid in his cup and got up to go.


	3. Part 3

**The Kiss That Never Was, Part Three**

**Chapter Eleven: The Dirty Deed**

Morning light poured into Mitsune's room. Keitaro drifted back into conscious. He felt content. Very content. _Lying here, with a pair of soft breasts poking into my chest and a pair of legs wrapped over mine, is a GREAT way to wake up._

L_egs!?! Breasts?!? _His eyes popped open and his mind slammed into full consciousness.

"Good morning, Keitaro." Mitsune's face was about two inches from his, and her body was draped all over him.

"AAAAIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!" If it weren't for the fact that it was pinned down, Keitaro's body would have gone flying off in a random direction and ricocheted off the walls. As it was, all he could do was scream, which he began to do again. "AAAAIIIIIIE..."

Mitsune cut the sound off by placing her hands over his mouth. "Calm down, Keitaro, you don't want everyone to come running in here, do you? As it is, I took the precaution of securing the door, but still..." Mitsune thought again to herself how lucky it was that nobody had overheard them last night. She took all the precautions she could think of, but living at the inn was like living in a fishbowl.

Keitaro barely heard her words. His mind was heading off a thousand different directions at once. _What the hell happened? Where am I am? What did I do?_ Unable to get free from under Mitsune, he decided his best course of action was to lie still as a stone until he could figure out what was going on. He closed his eyes.

"Think, Keitaro, think!" he muttered to himself. He lay there for who knows how long, and slowly pieced things together. He began to recall what happened the night before, which caused an involuntary reaction in him down below. _That isn't helping my concentration at all!_ He finally opened his eyes, and spoke.

"Oh my God. So I've... So we've... I've... You!... Me!... We...!!!" He grasped for words, but they weren't coming out coherently. He looked into Mitsune's face, still so close to his. She was wearing a patient and very happy smile. She was letting him take his time.

Finally, she said, "I figured a total morning freak out like this would happen. You're so pure. Just relax. It's okay. I'm here." She grasped him tighter, and planted a quick kiss on his cheek.

She continued to soothe him: "What happened happened. Everything will be fine." 

His mind was still reeling, but his heart and body were slowly beginning to calm down. He decided he should try to only think of one thing at a time, slowly, if he was going to make any sense of things.

_Mitsune. Me. We had sex. Last night._ Those thoughts right there were way more than his mind was ready to comprehend.

After giving him more pause, Mitsune said, as if reading his mind, "Yes, we had sex last night. And it was great! People do this all the time; it's really not that big a deal.  In fact..." - her hand reached between his legs - "Judging from this, it looks like you still desire more satisfaction?"

Keitaro began to scream "AAAAIII", but Mitsune quickly covered his mouth with her hand again.

"I take it the answer is no," she smiled. "Please forgive me. I'm such a tease with you, that I couldn't resist saying that." She took her hand from his face.

But even though she backed off, her action set off another frenzied thought in Keitaro's overheated brain. _It's all right there, right on top of me! All the female body parts that I've been punched and kicked for touching so many times, they're right in front of me! I can touch them as much as I want, and no one's going to kick me!_ But Keitaro didn't move a muscle. He was having a hard time realizing what happened the night before was real, and still couldn't believe his current situation either.

Mitsune decided he was calm enough, relatively speaking, for her to speak more. "I have a secret to tell you. The fact..."

Suddenly, she stopped. She heard the sound of footsteps coming down the hall. It continued until someone was standing outside her door in the hallway. She put her hand back on Keitaro's mouth, and raised a finger to her own mouth, making the signal to be quiet.

"Hello, Mitsune-san? Are you awake? I thought I heard some screaming. Are you okay?"

It was Motoko's voice. _Oh shit,_ thought Mitsune. _If Keitaro makes a sound now, we'll both be cut into little pieces, no doubt. Luckily, he's frozen in fear. What to do, what to do..._

"Urrgghh..." Mitsune cried out in a pained and weary voice. "Is that you, Motoko? Thanks for asking. I just woke up from a bad nightmare. I've got a hangover from hell, too. I think I'm just gonna lay here and slowly die. Thanks for your concern. See you later!"

Motoko responded, "Okay. Sorry to bother you, but it was just such a strange sounding scream. If you need anything, just let me know. And please, try to lay off the bottle." Motoko began to walk off, then stopped. "Oh by the way, have you seen... No, of course you haven't. Never mind." Mitsune finally heard the sounds of Motoko walking away, and breathed a big sigh of relief.

Mitsune still held her hand over Keitaro's mouth, making absolutely sure the coast was clear. His eyes looked like they would completely pop out of his head at any moment. She pondered what Motoko had said. _Obviously with that last bit, she was looking for Keitaro. It's probably time for them to start their morning kendo practice. Trouble's coming, if he doesn't show up there soon. And no way is he in any shape to do that today._

_Did she suspect he was in here, is that why she was asking that? No, she couldn't have. If she had such a suspicion, she would have slashed right through the paper walls with her sword. Or at least made some excuse to come in and look around.  I'm really in for it now! Thank heavens for the aphrodisiac excuse_. She listened closely for Motoko, but the halls were still silent.

She straddled her body over Keitaro even more to keep him pinned down, and said to him, "Alright, I'm going to remove my hand from your mouth. Do you promise not to scream?" He nodded, and kept his word.

She whispered, "Keitaro, as I was about to say, there's an important secret I have to tell you. You're not responsible for last night, and I'm not either. Well, not totally, anyways. You see, that tea we both drank last night contained an aphrodisiac. Our minds turned off, and our bodies took over. It could have happened to anyone."

Mitsune told the rest of the story about the aphrodisiac. But in the version she told him, she made it appear that she only had the vaguest idea that Suu had created a batch of aphrodisiac tasting like tea, and then placed it in the refrigerator. She was only just figuring it out now, she explained.

Keitaro nodded dumbly and accepted everything she said without question. At that point, she could have told him that she was actually a giant hamster from outer space, and he would have believed it just as readily.

Finally, he spoke. "I'm sorry, Mitsune, it's not your fault, it's my fault. I should never have agreed to come to your room alone at such an hour. I don't deserve to live." He began to quietly cry.

She grabbed his chin. "Buck up, okay? Look, there's nothing to be apologizing about. Aphrodisiac or not, I was glad to have sex with you. And you can't say you didn't enjoy it either. We're just two consenting adults who had sex, right? It happens every day."

"Bu-bu-but, what if I got you pregnant?" he stammered out.

She grabbed his hand and guided it until it closed over a box near the side of her bed. "You remember these from last night? Condoms. A woman of the world like me always has some of these stored away."

At that point, he noticed also that his nose felt funny. He reached for it, and realized that he was wearing nose plugs. "Yes, nose plugs," said Mitsune, again following his train of thought. "The way you were going last night, if I didn't happen to have those, you probably would have bled to death."

Keitaro responded, "You thought of everything." That's all he could think to say for the moment. He had stopped crying, for now.

"I'm a resourceful woman. We did nothing wrong. There's nothing to be ashamed about. You don't have a girlfriend, and I don't have a boyfriend."

"Narusegawa!" Keitaro blurted out. He began crying in earnest.

"She is not your girlfriend," sighed Mitsune, irked at herself for mentioning that name. "I know she told you she wants to be 'just friends.' I'm not your girlfriend either, unless you want me to be. I will not be offended if you don't want to touch me again. If you still want to pursue her, then so be it. What happened last night won't change that.

"I would be happy being your girlfriend, if that's what you want. I would really like that. But you don't have to decide that now. The one problem that we have, that you should be concerned about, is that most everyone else in Hinata Inn wants to be your girlfriend, too. If you don't handle their reaction to this properly, some people are going to be very, very hurt."

"Girlfriend? Who wants to be my girlfriend?" he asked semi-hysterically. He was not the most observant person in the world when it came to these things.

"Everyone, dummy! Me, Mutsumi, Motoko, Suu, Shinobu. And please don't ask me about Naru, I could write a book about that story."

"That's not true, there's no way..." _I was just starting to get used to the idea that I had sex with Kitsune last night, and now she tells me this?!? I can only take so much!_ His brain was so overheated, it was surprising smoke didn't start pouring out of his ears.

Mitsune went on, "I'm not asking you to believe this now, okay? Just think about it. And please keep your voice down. Motoko-chan almost made you into Keitaro shish kebob just now. What you really need to do is take some time off, and go think about these things for some time, BEFORE you tell anyone else here what happened. You get that?"

He nodded.

"Good. Now the first thing we need to do is get you out of this room, before someone discovers you here. That is, unless you want another go round?"

Mitsune, still pressing on top of Keitaro, began running her hands over his body. Keitaro shut his eyes tight and went completely stiff all over.

"No? I guess not. I'm just teasing you, still. Don't worry, I'm not going to bite you! Or maybe I will - that sounds like fun, heh-heh. However, I can see you're not in a playful mood. But remember that if you want to do what we did again, I'll be here. No commitment necessary; I just want to be with you. I'll let you go now, but at least grant me this."

She planted her lips on his and kissed him passionately. It was a one-way kiss though - Keitaro was still in too much shock to respond.

"Geez, I think kissing someone in a coma would be more fun," she shook her head. "But don't worry, you were good enough last night." She gave him an affectionate kiss on the cheek. "Now, let's smuggle you out of here."

**  
Chapter Twelve: Who Could Love Me?**

Keitaro sat on a hill overlooking the Hinata Inn. There had been no trouble getting Keitaro out of Mitsune's room. Mitsune stood as the look out, and then whisked him out of the inn in less than a minute. He left having to wear the same clothes he had on the night before. But Mitsune took a change of clothing out of his room and delivered it up to him on the hill. She smuggled the old clothes back into the inn, noting with amusement that now he was too shy to change in front of her. 

It was a normal, sunny, summer morning. Everyone was out doing their usual things, and no one appeared to have the slightest suspicion of what happened. Mitsune also told Motoko that Keitaro couldn't show for the kendo practice because he had to run some urgent errands and that he might not be back to the inn until later. Motoko didn't seem to mind, or think anything suspicious of it.

So everything was fine, for now. Keitaro was up on a hill and not at his favorite contemplation spot, the roof the Hinata Inn, because of the chance someone could find him there. But he knew his seclusion was the calm before the storm, and just delaying the inevitable. Things were likely to explode as soon as he returned to the inn and began opening his mouth.

Keitaro had most of his wits back about him now. _Thank goodness for Mitsune's quick thinking. Damn, she's clever__. If it were up to me, I probably would have gone running and screaming out of her room. I wouldn't have even had the sense to throw on some pants, and would have been running naked down the halls. Everyone would have woken up, and I can't even imagine what would have happened next, but it would have been bad. Lots of flying fists and missiles, I'm sure. I probably would have ended up on this hill, but not by walking!_

Sigh _I'm such an idiot. It's remarkable I can tie my shoes without someone helping me. Is what Mitsune said really true? That's completely impossible. I have no understanding whatsoever why any of them would like me, much less be in love with me!_

...-

Keitaro sat on the hill for several hours, just thinking. Two o'clock in the afternoon rolled by, and still his thoughts kept going round and round in the same mental circles. He felt like he was floating, just like the clouds he stared at endlessly. The last time he'd felt so detached and lost was that fateful day between him and Narusegawa, not that long ago. It seemed this had all happened to someone else, on another day. He kept flipping between exultation and guilt about what happened the night before.

His self-esteem had been so crushed by his fallout with Naru that the idea of other women being in love with him was completely staggering. He finally decided to look at Mitsune's idea that others were in love with him head on, and began running through the possibilities.

Suu? In love with me? No way, completely impossible. She's just a kid.

_Shinobu? Also completely impossible. Yes, she's very protective of me, and has very strong feelings towards me, but those are like the feelings of a young sister towards an older brother. Like Suu, they're both too young and naive to even understand what romantic love is. _He made a little dig at himself: Not that I'm the big expert!

_I don't know what's going to happen with Suu, but with Shinobu, it could get bad. She's so fragile. She'll probably cry and cry, and then blame Mitsune. Maybe it is better that we don't tell her the full story of what happened..._

_Oh, but the lies already! I'm already lying to Motoko. She thinks I'm out running errands. And if she had found us in bed together?_ He shuddered and reflexively protected his head with his arms. _I have to be honest with her. But what will her response be? Could she be in love with me?_

Putting his arms down, he contemplated his previous kiss with Motoko from a few months before. He thought about the forced wedding that came so close to happening, and some of her comments back then, such as the way she said, "Keitaro, would marrying me really be so bad?" He thought about the increasing amount of time they spent together.

Okay, its time to admit it. Yes, she could be in love with me. With her background and personality, she may just not express love the way other people normally do. If she says something like to me like "I don't hate you," that means a lot, coming from her. So, assuming for a moment that's true, the bigger question is: do I love her?

He turned the idea over and over in his mind. _Yes. Yes, I do. The fact is, I agreed to marry her immediately back then, and without thinking. And I would do it again. Our relationship isn't a typical one, but I feel very strongly for her. And not just as friends. She's does her best to hide it, but she's incredibly beautiful. And that outer beauty is the radiation of her inner beauty._

But that's not the whole story. We're very different. I don't know how to express my affection, and neither does she. Maybe we're not meant for each other. I'm not at ease around her, even now. Certainly not the way I feel at ease around someone like Mutsumi.

His mind switched gears again. _There's a whole other issue! Is Mutsumi in love with me? Yes. That's one thing I can believe; she's very open about it. And yet, despite that, I still feel extremely comfortable around her, even though her ways are a bit of a mystery. We have so much in common - maybe we're destined for each other! Even though she wasn't the girl of my childhood promise._

Which brings me to Narusegawa. Could she be the one for me? Does that even matter anymore? My feelings are the strongest for her, but she doesn't love me in return. I've tried everything, but nothing seems to work. It seems like we're cursed. And she was very clear: 'just friends.' I just have to keep trying to harden my heart to her. It'll be hard though. When she comes back, what will I say about what happened between Mitsune and me? This will confirm all her accusations of me being a pervert, and she'll never talk to me again! In fact, she's Mitsune's best friend. Will the two of them even talk to each other, again? Did I just destroy their friendship?

I'm sorry, Mitsune! Why did we have to make love? Curse that aphrodisiac! 

What about Mitsune as a girlfriend? It wasn't just the aphrodisiac - she says she wants to be my girlfriend. And last night certainly was a highlight of my life. Or at least I gather it was - I don't really remember a whole lot. I would do that again in a heartbeat, if I had the courage, and if it wasn't for the implications, which make things so impossible.

So I lust after Mitsune, there's no doubt about that. She has a body to die for. But love? I don't think I love her, and I don't think I ever really will, in that way. I don't really think she truly loves me, either. We're just too different from each other. I think that when she talked about being a girlfriend, she's confusing lust for love. Why she would lust for me I don't understand either. It must be because I'm the only male around.

Thank you grandma! Being manager of the Hinata Inn is by far the greatest thing that ever happened to me. I've gone from a total nobody with women to someone the most beautiful women in Japan are fighting over! If my friends could see me now, they would never believe it!

_But the question is, how will I respond to this opportunity given? I have to make a choice, and soon, or else it will be bad for everyone. The choice has to be between Motoko and Mutsumi. Thank you, Mitsune, for making me a man, a real man! I will never forget you and what happened last night. I see what you mean now - I'm not going to be ashamed about sex. But it's between you, Motoko, and you, Mutsumi, that I have to choose, if Narusegawa doesn't want me._

Mental images of all those women flew around in his head, and again he could barely believe what a lucky man he was to be so close to such beautiful, wonderful women.

_Grandmother, please grant me the wisdom to make the most of the opportunity you gave me, and make the right choice. I'm not ready yet, and if Narusegawa were to change her mind, I would fall apart. But that's for another day. Now, I have to go back down to the inn and do my best to make things right. _Keitaro got up and headed down the hill.

**  
Chapter Thirteen: The Fallout Begins**

Back at the inn a few hours earlier and just after Keitaro left, Mitsune also found herself troubled. _I have to pat myself on the back. I played that like a genius, and I got what I wanted. But it was all so dishonest! I tricked Suu, I tricked Keitaro, and I tricked Motoko! If I keep on tricking people, I won't be able to look anyone here in the eye. It's time to contain the damage and break it to everyone gently. While Keitaro is sorting himself out, I need to take the initiative and talk to the others. No doubt, he'd try his admirable best to explain things to them, but he's just too honest and pure to know when to tell a white lie, or be clever with his words._

She went off to find Motoko. If only because of a desire to keep her head attached to her shoulders, it was important to get things straight with Motoko first. Mitsune waited until Motoko finished her morning kendo practice and showered.

Mitsune knocked on Motoko's door. "Motoko, are you in?"

"Yeah, sure, just getting ready for lunch. Please come in."

Mitsune walked into the room, but didn't say anything. Motoko still wore the simple kimono she stepped out of the shower with, and Mitsune wore a nondescript t-shirt and slacks. Mitsune ran her hand through her hair and pondered what to say, now that it actually came to it.

"Motoko-chan? Can I ask you a favor?"

"Yes, what is it?"

"I have something very serious to discuss. Can I ask you put your sword away, and promise me that you won't attack me or anyone else, or do anything drastic, until you've heard all that I have to say?"

"Certainly. Violence should always be the last resort, and I can't imagine what you could possibly say..." They both sat down on the floor and faced each other.

"Motoko, I know that you're in love with Keitaro."

Motoko immediately and hotly replied, "I am NOT!"

"Listen to me Motoko, I'm trying to be serious and honest to you. I can see things. It's obvious. You don't have to worry - I will keep it our secret. But can't you admit that you're in love with him?"

Silence followed. Motoko just looked at the floor. Finally she said, "Why are you asking me this?"

"I take it then from your lack of denial that it's true. I'm bringing it up because it's important to the news I'm trying to tell you."

Motoko looked at Mitsune with sudden concern. "Did something happen to Keitaro?!?"

"No, it's nothing like that. Instead, what I want to say is that I'm in love with him too."

Motoko gasped.

"However, I understand that my love for him is not as pure or strong as your love for him. I've used my female charms and conniving to get close to him, but you don't think in that same kind of way. That's why I'm saying now, that, if it were to come down to him loving you or me, I will step aside and let him chose you. I really mean that, and I'm not just saying that. It's also important to understand that I don't believe he is in love with me. He responds to my teasing with lust, as any man naturally would, but that's not the same as love. Do you understand all that I've said?"

Motoko looked Mitsune intensely into her eyes. She slowly nodded.

"Which is why it pains me to say what I have to say next." She paused.

"Last night, both Keitaro and I accidentally drank some aphrodisiac. It was nobody's fault. It's a long story I can explain later. Suu made some aphrodisiac that actually works. That's what she was busy doing all day yesterday. But the result is that he and I got romantically passionate last night."

Motoko stood up. If looks alone could kill, Mitsune would have been struck from the world of the living right then. Motoko reached for her sword at her side, but it wasn't there. She balled her hands into fists and grimaced. "How passionate?" she growled, teeth clenched.

"Very passionate," Mitsune responded, as delicately as she could manage. "As passionate as two people can be."

Motoko covered her head with her hands, and then fell to the ground.

Mitsune pressed on. "But remember, it was the aphrodisiac. Keitaro didn't take advantage of me. If anything, I took advantage of him. I had been drinking a lot already. And look, I don't think this will ultimately affect your chances with him. Yes, I would like him to be my boyfriend, but I've always been a long shot, probably the longest shot. He loves you much more than he loves me."

Motoko, still cradling her head in her hands, began to cry. "Love! Don't talk to me about love. That's not true! I hate that word! I hate you, and I hate him!"

Mitsune tried to touch Motoko's shoulder, but she was roughly brushed away. "Don't comfort me! Go away! Leave me alone!"

Mitsune nonetheless pressed on. "Hate me, but please don't hate Keitaro. He did nothing. Any male, alone with Suu's powerful aphrodisiac and a flirtatious woman, would have done the same thing. In a way, this could be a good thing for you. Keitaro is now sitting on a hill by himself, and pondering what this all means. He didn't have any errands - I just sent him away so he could get his thoughts together. Right now, he's trying to figure out whom he really loves, and who loves him. It may be that he decides that it's you that he really loves, over everyone else."

Motoko pulled her head up, and turned towards Mitsune in fury. "No, that's a lie! You're just saying that to make me feel better. He could never love me! I'm unlovable! Nobody loves me!" She collapsed again and resumed crying.

Mitsune continued, "Honestly, I think Keitaro is confused, and doesn't know who he loves. His problem is that he has different women to choose from, and he loves them all. But certainly, he loves you very strongly. It's up to you to act. If you act decisively, then you dreams may come true. If you don't, then someone like me will steal him away. It's only fair that I give you that chance, before I do anything more."

"Dreams?" Motoko sobbed. "How did you know about my dreams? Leave me alone! Go now! Go!"

Mitsune got up and quietly left the room.

**  
Chapter Fourteen: Trouble With The Truth**

Mitsune roamed the hallways of the Hinata Inn, thinking about her confrontation with Motoko. _That actually went better than I thought it would,_ she mused to herself. _All the parts of my body are still attached, for one thing. And I was afraid someone would be attracted to all the yelling, but I guess we got lucky. Now I need to find Suu and talk to her alone. She's gonna be pissed when she finds out I used her aphrodisiac without asking, so I'll have to talk to her before Keitaro does. With Shinobu and Sara, it's probably best that Keitaro tells them as much or as little as he thinks they're ready for._ She walked off towards Suu's jungle garden.

Little did Mitsune know, but the scene with Motoko did not go unobserved. Shinobu was in the kitchen preparing lunch when she heard yelling coming from Motoko's room, and ran there to find out what was happening. She arrived just as Mitsune was saying, "Right now, he's trying to figure out whom he really loves, and who loves him. It may be that he decides that it's you that he really loves, over everyone else." 

She clutched the wood paneling of a wall just beyond Motoko's so tightly that it seemed she would crush it in her hands. She just barely managed to duck out of sight right when she heard Motoko say, "Leave me alone! Go now! Go!" She stumbled into a supply closet, and found herself in total darkness.

Shinobu was devastated. It was as if someone had stuck a dagger into her chest and ripped her heart out. _Sempai?_ _He loves Motoko? What happened between him and Motoko?!? Something not good - she was very sad. And what was this Mitsune said about, 'Before I do anything more?'_ She gasped _Something must have happened between Mitsune and Se__mpai! She must have kissed him! It must have been very passionate, for her to be telling Motoko!_

Shinobu began sobbing uncontrollably. She instinctively ran back into the kitchen and looked around. The food was done cooking, and in danger of burning. _They can't see me like this! Nobody knows I'm in love with __Sempai! I can't let anyone know!_ Pulling herself together slightly, she stopped crying, turned off the stove, and ran to Motoko's room. Standing outside it, she could hear sobbing inside. She gathered strength, and tried to make her voice sound as normal as possible. "Motoko-sempai? Lunch is ready! Please tell the others! I have an appointment, and I have to go!" Then she ran away, out of the front door of the Hinata Inn and into the streets, crying all the way.

...

A few minutes later, Mitsune, Motoko, Suu and Sara ate lunch together. The mood was very strained. Mitsune hadn't had a chance to talk to Suu, so only two at the table knew what had transpired, and neither of them could talk about it directly in front of the others.

Motoko had managed to stop crying, and put on a steel face that mostly hid her true emotions. She's also thrown on a pair of shorts and t-shirt. But Motoko was shooting daggers at Mitsune with her eyes. Her honor code made her feel obliged to say something nice to her, however. "Konno-san," - Motoko used Mitsune's last name to emphasize emotional distance - "I ... I appreciate what you said earlier. You didn't have to say what you did, and make the offer you did. But this is not over between us. I will have more to say to you later."

Sara piped up. "Say what? What offer? What's going on between you two? It looks like you're both upset! Does this have something to do with Shinobu disappearing all of the sudden? She cooked us food and just left it in the pans!"

Mitsune replied, "This is grown up stuff. You wouldn't understand." She patted Sara's head, covered with a backwards baseball cap as usual. "Don't worry about it. Shinobu had a sudden appointment. Motoko and I are still friends, aren't we?"

Motoko responded with a question. "Konno-san, you were drinking too much alcohol last night, weren't you?"

"Yes, I was." Mitsune couldn't figure out where Motoko was going with this.

"You drink far too much, Konno-san. You know it's not good for you, and it makes people do stupid things." The second part of the sentence was subtly but strongly emphasized. "I want you to make me a promise. For the next month, you don't drink a drop of alcohol, and you run ten kilometers every day. I'll be watching closely. I'll confiscate all your bottles. At the end of the month, I will evaluate if you can halt your new regimen."

"Yes, alright. You're right. It can be, uh, it's time I get myself in better shape." Mitsune didn't know which idea she hated more, the running or ban on drinking, but she realized that was the price she had to pay to remain Motoko's friend, or at least not an enemy.

"You two must have had a really bad fight last night!" said Suu.

"Yes, something like that," responded Mitsune with a small sigh. "But don't worry, we always work these things out."

Motoko was somewhat mollified, but added, "This still isn't done, Konno-san. I'll have more to say to you, and I'll be watching you very closely. You can start your running today. I'll be keeping track, and it won't count unless I see it with my own eyes."

Suu, thinking that was unpleasantness was over, began talking excitedly about some of her new inventions (but not the aphrodisiac), and the rest of the meal passed happily enough, on the surface. But Suu and Sara were completely unaware of the torturous, pained, and often hateful thoughts going through Motoko's head.

...

After lunch, Mitsune told Suu the two of them needed to take a walk. Mitsune realized she had to be more careful to make sure no one overheard. "Suu, I have something to confess. Last night, my curiosity got the best of me. After I thought everyone had gone to bed, I was putting the love potion in the refrigerator, and got tempted to try a little bit of it myself. So I had a small glass. I had been drinking a lot of sake by then, and wasn't thinking very clearly."

"That's okay, Mitsune! To tell you the truth, I kept a little for myself, and couldn't resist trying some too. It goes great with bananas! I got all agitated and flustered, though. I had to run around and around the garden before I could finally go to bed with Motoko. How did it go with you?"

"Well, kinda the same, minus the bananas part. You think everything tastes good with bananas! The other difference is that I was sitting there in the kitchen, waiting to see what would happen, and to my surprise, Keitaro walked in! I thought everyone had gone to sleep! I started acting totally crazy. I even had him drink some of it, and didn't tell him what it was! I hate to say this, but the two of us started kissing passionately, and then we both passed out a short time later. Maybe because of too much wine? But in any case, I don't think the effects lasted very long. When I saw Keitaro this morning, he acted like nothing had happened between us. I don't think he wants to kiss me anymore. I definitely learned my lesson! I'm going to steer clear of that aphrodisiac until I can find someone I really want to use it on."

Suu seemed to be taking this pack of lies surprisingly well. "Wow! That's great! It worked! A live human to human test!" She jumped up and down and hugged Mitsune. "You'll have to tell me more, so I can calibrate its strength. This is the way to get Keitaro kissing!" She suddenly realized she probably shouldn't have said that last sentence, but was too late now to take it back. "Tell me again, you sure you're not going to use it on Keitaro any more?"

"That creep? No way! Luckily his perverted tendencies were kept in check. I shudder to think what might have happened had we drunk more of it."

Suu went away happier than before. _Damn,_ thought Mitsune. _I shouldn't have lied to her so much. I'm telling everyone a different story! I'd better talk to Keitaro before he talks to Suu, or I'm going to slide into deeper trouble! Suu heard just what she wanted to hear. This is all going to end badly the next time there's a red moon; I just know it. But at least for now things are holding together._

**  
Chapter Fifteen: The Highest Highs, And Lowest Lows**

Around two o'clock, Mitsune went up to the hills behind the inn to find how Keitaro was faring. But at the same time, he had just finished his deliberations mentioned previously, and headed down to the inn by a different route.

The first thing he wanted to do was talk to Motoko. He went to her room.

Knock. Knock. "Motoko-chan, are you there?" No answer. 

He was about to walk away when he heard her say, "Yes, please come in." 

"Motoko, I have something important to say..." Motoko was sitting on her futon, dressed in a casual kimono. She tried to appear normal, but he noticed that her eyes were very red, meaning she must have been crying only moments before.

"I heard it already, Urashima!" Motoko said to him, spitting out each word with venom. "How could you??" She muttered "Secret Art: Penetrating Agony!" and raised her sword. Keitaro went flying through the door he had just closed behind him, and came to rest at the foot of the wall on the other side of the hallway.

After coming to, he looked through the Keitaro-sized hole in Motoko's door, and saw her inside, sitting and sobbing heavily. He ran into her room, stepping through his hole.

She yelled at him, "Keep your distance, you pervert! Do you realize what you did was a gross violation of your role as manager of a girl's dormitory?!? I cannot forgive that!"

"Motoko! Motoko! Please! We didn't know what we were doing! It was the aphrodisiac! I had no idea what happened! What I woke up this morning, I was horrified! Please, please, forgive me!"

"Is that all you have to say?"

"Um, there's more, but that's the main thing I wanted to tell you." He stumbled on, "I'm sorry, I don't know what to say. I'm so sorry!"

_So,_ thought Motoko in despair. _It's all over. Mitsune was wrong. I had hoped against all hope that he would say 'I love you,' or at least express SOME feelings for me, but he clearly has none. I might as well kill myself now. I'm a total failure! Keitaro will never love me, and my insane obsession with him has destroyed my ability to focus on either kendo or school as well. I have nothing! All is lost! I can never overcome this shame!_

_Nothing left to lose,_ she thought, again. She looked up at Keitaro, who was hovering and kneeling over her, looking very concerned, and wondering if he should give her a consoling hug. _If I have nothing to lose, then why not try this..._

She leaned over, forcefully grabbed him, and placed her mouth on his. She kissed him passionately, as if her life depended on it. He began responding in kind. The two held each other tightly. Finally, after several minutes, Keitaro broke away from the kiss.

"Motoko-chan! If I didn't stop, I was going to die from lack of oxygen!" He panted. The two still held each other. Suddenly Motoko pulled away and turned around to face the wall.

"So you see how it is with me! I suppose you hate me now!" She yelled, barely able to control her voice.

"No!" Keitaro came around and kneeled in front on her. She turned around, and he came around before her again. He grabbed her by the shoulders and they stared into each other's eyes.

"Motoko-chan. I've been wanting to kiss you like that for a long time. I've never let myself do it. But I never knew you felt that way about me! Maybe I kind of knew, or I should have known, or I knew but I didn't know, but I never really knew. Sorry, I'm rambling! The point is, you mean very much to me. It was only today that I really figured out exactly for myself how much you mean to me. I just came down from the hills where I was doing a lot of thinking, and it occurred to me there that you could be in love with me, and that I'm in love with you. But I don't know how to talk to you."

Motoko cried "Oh Urashima - Keitaro!" _He said it! He loves me!_ She leaned in to kiss him again, but he held her back.

"But, but wait!" he stammered. "I'm not ready for that. Some really wild things have happened to me in the last day, and I don't even feel like it happened to me. It feels like it happened to someone else, and I'm just seeing it in a dream. I'm confused! I don't know what I'm saying or doing. I'm likely to say something really stupid every time I open my mouth. I know now that I love you, but I also love some ... others. So please, give me time to recover, and figure out what happening to me!"

The two just held each other for some time. Finally, Motoko pulled back and looked into his eyes. Her self-doubt and worries were getting the best of her.

"Others?" she queried crossly. "Do you mean Mitsune?"

"No! Actually, yes, kind of. But, no, not really. What I mean to say is, I feel strongly for her physically. She's very pretty, you must admit, and after last night especially, I would be lying if I didn't say I desire her, physically. But I don't love her! I love you! That's what's important. I don't want Mitsune as my girlfriend, I want you."

Motoko thought she could die of joy. _He said it again! 'I love you!' He wants me!_ But Keitaro wasn't done speaking.

"But the problem is, you're not the only one. You know I've loved Narusegawa for a long time. Things have been rocky between us lately, but I seem to keep loving her anyways. And Mutsumi, as well! I always thought that if something happened between Narusegawa and me, that I would love Mutsumi instead. We seem to have some inexpressible bond that's very strong. And that's what would have happened, except that in these last few months and especially lately, I've been growing so close to you!"

"So that's why I'm so confused. Mutsumi and Narusegawa are both gone now. I need to find out how I feel about them, and I can't do that, I think, until I see them face to face."

He hung his head down. "So do you understand my problem? I know it sounds absurd, one guy in love with three women, especially some ordinary guy like me. And then what happened with Mitsune last night has me more confused. But it's true. I so badly would love to kiss you again, but I don't feel I should, until I sort this out."

Emotionally wiped out, he slowly raised his head and looked at Motoko. Her whole demeanor had changed. She didn't look desperate and sad any more, but she didn't look happy, either. Instead, a tough Motoko had returned.

"Ordinary? Keitaro, don't let anyone tell you that you're ordinary," she said fiercely. "I'll cut them in two!"

"Motoko-chan, don't sell yourself short either. You're very special. You've very special to me. Whatever happens now, you'll always be very special to me. Can you please give me time?"

"I'll let you go, now, today." She stared deeply into his eyes. "But I don't plan to stand idly by and let one of those two get you. You mean... You mean so... Aw, look, you're making me get all mushy again!" She briefly turned away. "All I'm saying is, I'm on the warpath now, and you're my target!" She smiled at him, and even winked.

"Fair enough," smiled Keitaro. "But promise me one thing. In the past, you've often had rather, uh, how do I say, uh, physical, and violent solutions to problems. The power of your sword. In this conflict, promise me you won't use your sword or your other powers, no matter what may come. Those two have no way to fight back against that."

"I promise," she said resolutely. "If it's Keitaro who asks..." She trailed off awkwardly. She was going to complete the sentence with, "I would promise him anything in the world," but expressing such mushy feelings out loud didn't come easily to her.

They both stood up, and gave each other a rather formal hug and peck on the cheek.

Keitaro walked out the room, still feeling his earlier feeling that he was floating. _I can't believe this is happening to me! It feels like that was a scene in a movie I was just watching. Motoko! She smiled! That was the biggest smile I've ever seen from her!_ He floated off on a cloud of joy.

Back in her room, Motoko now looked frightfully serious, with a ready-to-kill look in her eyes. She leaned against her door and thought to herself, _Mitsune was actually right! He does love me! But she was even more correct about something else. How did she put it? 'It's up to you to act. If you act decisively, then you dreams may come true.'_ She grabbed her sword and strapped it back on. _I am no longer going to wallow in self-pity and helplessness. I am a warrior, and I have a battle to face. Keitaro's heart is my prize, and this time, I'm not going to lose!_


	4. Part 4

**The Kiss That Never Was, Part Four**

**Chapter Sixteen: Crazy Like a Fox**

Keitaro bubbled on down the hallway towards his room, high on life. But then, a voice seemingly from out of nowhere said to him, "That was really moving, Keitaro. I'm touched!" He looked around to see who said that, and a figure stepped out from the shadows. It was Mitsune, with a big smile on her face and a few tears in her almost-closed eyes.

"WHAAA??? Mitsune! What are you doing here? Were you just listening when..."

"Yes I was. This place is far too small. No privacy at all. I just was at the top of the hill to find you, and when I got up there I could see you walking back towards the inn, so I hurried back down. I'm in a desperate hurry to talk to you about something, in private." They hurried on to his room.

"What is it?" asked Keitaro just after sliding his door shut.

"First, before we get to that, I have to say, I really was touched regarding your discussion with Motoko. So romantic, so moving! I think I missed much of it, and I caught a mention about kissing again, so I guess I missed the juicy kissing part. But it was a blast just the same."

"Mitsuuunneee!" Keitaro whined. "That was private!"

"Like I said, no privacy here. You even conveniently made a hole in the door so I could peek in. I'm just disappointed I didn't have my video camera!"

"You saw us!?! Mitsuuunneee! Did you hear the part where I talked about you?" To himself he nervously thought, _She's really going to hate me know, hearing me say I'm not in love with her._

"Damn, I think I missed that. But right as I came in, you were talking about how the women you truly loved were Motoko, Mutsumi, and Naru, and since I wasn't on that list, I can draw the logical conclusion. You don't want me as a girlfriend. I understand and respect that."

"Mitsune! Just this morning you were so moving in asking me if I wanted to be your boyfriend, and now you don't seem to mind at all when I said no to that idea. In fact, you seem positively happy about it. It's crazy. I can't understand you at all!"

"I like excitement, and I like making people happy. So let's just say I work at cross-purposes sometimes. Your words to Motoko were so romantic that I wish they were said to me. But since they weren't, I can only cheer you and Motoko on. Seriously. You two would make a good pair."

She added, "Not to mention, I liked the part where you said you desired me physically. I see a lot of potential for fun mischief there." Mitsune reached out and began lightly stroking Keitaro's chest with her fingers.

"You DID hear that part! Mitsune! Please have mercy! If anything else happened today, I don't think I could handle it!"

She withdrew her fingers, pouting. "Okay, since you asked so nice."

Continuing, she said, "I understand you don't want me as your girlfriend per se, but I'm still going to hold you to that physical desire promise. No reason we can't have a little fun here and there, by and by." She winked with one of her almost-closed eyes.

"Promise? What promise? I didn't make any promise!" He groped desperately for some way to change the subject. "Ah, you said you came here to tell me a secret. What is it?"

"Oh yes, that. Have you spoken to anyone else about what happened, aside from Motoko?"

"No."

"Phew. I'm glad to hear that. We need to coordinate our stories. You see, I talked to both Motoko and Suu about it already, and well, I didn't exactly tell them the same story, and what I told both of them wasn't exactly the same as what we did." Mitsune then added, but only in her thoughts to herself, "And what I got you to believe what happened was yet another story."

Keitaro groaned. "Mitsune, you're killing me. I don't know how much more of this I can take!"

"Well, it's not a big deal, really. I wasn't far off with Motoko. It's just that I stressed the role of the aphrodisiac. Whereas I think your enthusiasm kept going long after the effect of the aphrodisiac wore off, am I right?" Mitsune began playfully rubbing her hand against his chest again.

"Mitsune, please! Stop that with your hands already!" He flapped his hands up and down in the air. "And don't make me answer that question about the aphrodisiac!" Again, trying to change the subject, he asked, "What about Suu?"

"That's a bit more tricky. Since it was her love potion, I didn't want her to think I used it on purpose, when I had just kinda promised her that I wouldn't. So I strongly emphasized the accidental aspect there."

"But you poured it in my drink on purpose, to seduce me!"

"Does she really need to know that? And I didn't think it was really necessary that she knew we had sex. So I told her that it caused us to kiss passionately and then pass out. Then the next day, you had no interest in kissing me any more. I hope to prove myself wrong on that second point, but she doesn't need to know that either, heh-heh." Mitsune drew closer, and both of her hands began caressing his back. She pressed her chest into his, putting her face inches from his own.

"Mitsune, please have mercy on me! I have no willpower!"

"That's what I'm counting on. But I understand you and Motoko need a chance to sort your feelings out for each other, so I'll give you two some space for a while, and try to keep my wandering hands from wandering too far. But I can't control them completely." 

Her hands continued to roam over his back and shoulders. She giggled to herself,_ I'm actually gently caressing his body, and he's okay with it! I would never have believed it possible, even twenty-four hours ago!_ But then the fact that he said he wasn't in love with her came back into her brain and stole away her enthusiasm.

She focused again on the conversation. "Anyways, can we get our stories straight with Suu? She's probably going to quiz you intensively about it later, so she can better calibrate the strength of the drug."

"Okay, okay, please, if you'll just go."

Mitsune drew back a bit and took one, but just one, of her hands off of him. "Goodie! One other thing though. I think Shinobu suspects something. She fled the inn right before lunch, and hasn't been seen since. Motoko said she said something about having an urgent appointment, but the whole thing sounds so unlike her. I think you'll have to go find her, and when you do, break the news gently. Whether you believe she has a crush on you or not, she worships you. And she's the most innocent of anyone. The idea of you having sex with anyone, I don't think she could handle that. Even sisters can have trouble imagining that happening to their brothers. Do you remember what happened that time when everyone thought you had sex with Mutsumi and made her pregnant? Shinobu was completely crushed. So I think telling her what I told Suu would be an act of kindness. She's just too young. But I leave it up to you."

"Okay, I'll do my best."

"Thanks." Mitsune walked towards the door, then paused. "You know, one other thing. You've changed so much since last night. Just now, if I had been touching the old Keitaro, he would have had a panic attack, a nosebleed, and then fallen all over the room. You had such an obvious hang-up about sex, we had to get you over the hump, so to speak." She laughed at her own pun. "The new Keitaro is so much more mature. I think I'm going to have a lot more fun with the new Keitaro." She winked again, and walked out of his room.

_It's true, I've changed,_ thought Keitaro, once he was alone. _I guess the difference is that I'm not afraid of women anymore. The idea of kissing and especially sex seemed to be so scary and impossible. Now I know I can handle it. But now I've got a new set of worries. Speaking of which, I'd better go find Shinobu._

**  
Chapter Seventeen: More White Lies**

Keitaro finally found Shinobu around four o'clock in the afternoon. She was sitting on a park bench not far from the inn. She wasn't crying, but she looked very down… She was furiously drawing something on a notepad she must have just purchased, but she wouldn't show Keitaro what the picture was. 

He explained what happened the night before, but didn't tell her the full truth. Much as Mitsune explained it to Suu, his story involved lots of kissing, but no sex. Shinobu didn't act too surprised, but just seemed resigned. The one thing that surprised Keitaro was that when he finished his explanation, she asked him, "Did you kiss Motoko too?"

"Why do you ask that? This story has nothing to do with Motoko."

"Well, did you?" Shinobu could think of little else but how she overheard Mitsune tell Motoko, "Right now, he's trying to figure out whom he really loves, and who loves him. It may be that he decides that it's you that he really loves, over everyone else." 

"Shinobu, that kind of thing is pretty private, don't you think? Do I have to tell you every time I kiss somebody? Anyways, what makes you think I kissed her?"

"So sorry, Sempai." Shinobu looked very apologetic, as well as downcast. "It's just that... You've been spending so much time with Motoko lately, and I want you to be happy..."

"Motoko is not my girlfriend, if that's what you mean. But it could be that I will have a girlfriend before very long. I've been at the Hinata Inn for two years without any girlfriend; that's not very usual for someone my age. If I had a girlfriend, would that upset you?"

"Who me? No. No!" She shook her hands in front of her frantically, to emphasize her "no." "I only want whatever makes Sempai happy. If having Motoko or some other woman as a girlfriend makes you happy, nothing could make me happier." She tried to put on a brave face and smile, but didn't succeed very well.

But she couldn't resist adding: "But why Sempai, why do you tell me about the one thing, but you don't tell me about the other?"

"The other? What do you mean?" Keitaro blinked as he continued to play dumb. 

_How could she possibly know that I kissed Motoko?_ he asked himself internally. _She'd fled the inn long before that happened, and Mitsune was just outside the door, which means Shinobu couldn't have been. And no way could Mitsune have talked to her since._

He then said, "Shinobu, I don't want my whole life to be on public display for everyone to dissect. I need some privacy, okay? I told you about what happened with Mitsune because it affects everyone in the inn. For one thing, the aphrodisiac. Will you promise me that you will not try to use the aphrodisiac in any way?"

"Yes, Sempai, of course not."

"Good. When you're a little older, I'll feel more comfortable telling you more about my private life. But you're so impressionable now. I'm just trying to protect you."

"Thank you, Sempai, I appreciate it. You're so kind to worry about me."

The two of them walked back. Shinobu could at least console herself that he cared enough for her to spend several hours trying to find her, and that he said he was protecting her.

When she was finally alone back at the inn, Shinobu said to herself, _Sorry Sempai! I wish when I said I would be happy to see you with a girlfriend, I wish it was true. But it just isn't! If you had a girlfriend, I would just die. No one loves you more than me! I can't let that happen!_

...

Everyone gathered for dinner, which passed surprisingly incident-free. All the people there were in reasonably good spirits, with the exception of Shinobu. But as she so often did, she tried her best to put on a brave face. Motoko seemed brooding and determined, but at least not depressed.

Keitaro retired to his room right after dinner. He'd had more than enough excitement for one day, and didn't want to see or talk to anyone. He still had a lot to think about. He continued to ruminate over his situation, and eventually tossed and turned most of the night away. 

The only other incident of note that day occurred between Motoko and Mitsune. After dinner, Mitsune still hadn't run her 10 kilometers, so Motoko dragged her outside and forced her to do it. Mitsune's body was beautiful, not because she took care of it, but in fact despite the way she treated it. She could hardly run one kilometer without pausing, much less ten, but Motoko ran beside her, and pushed her on relentlessly.

Mitsune also surreptitiously replaced the label on the pitcher of aphrodisiac, since everyone now obviously knew it wasn't poison. _That label wasn't one of my better ideas._ Instead, she drew the three eye symbol that represented Suu's homeland, and wrote beneath it: "WARNING: Do not drink me, on pain of death!" _A touch of the dramatic won't hurt,_ she thought, _but I can see more trouble coming from this pitcher, regardless. This will sit here like a tempting forbidden fruit every time someone opens the refrigerator, and I have nowhere else to put it! I didn't think the aphrodisiac idea through enough._

It looks like it's going to be a very long month ahead, and Motoko has taken all the sake I need to help me through it!

**  
Chapter Eighteen: A Desperate Deal**

Keitaro dragged himself out of bed bright and early the next day. It wouldn't do to blow off Motoko's kendo practice again.

Motoko was in high spirits when Keitaro got up to the roof balcony for their daily practice session. "Good morning, sleepy head," she beamed. "Did you find any strange person in your bed this morning?"

Keitaro laughed out loud, and thought to himself, _A joke? A joke from Motoko? That's practically a first._ But then he nervously thought about what she said. _Damn, that won't be a joke if there is someone there one of these days! What am I going to do about Mitsune?_

Overall, the practice passed more good-heartedly than ever before. Motoko's skills were also exceptionally sharp. She was literally running circles around the admittedly bleary Keitaro while they fenced.

But when the practice was over, Motoko was upset with herself. Her plan was to immediately change her persona and start flirting with Keitaro, in order to win him over. She'd deliberately put her worries aside so she could appear happy. _But good spirits was not the same as flirting,_ she mused. _What happened to my plan to kiss him good morning? I lost my nerve!_

_This will not do, not at all!_ she brooded. _At this rate, I'm going to lose him for sure. 'Act decisively,' Mitsune said! But what can I do? I can only bend who I am so much. I'm not like Mitsune…_

...

There was a knock at Mitsune's door. "Come in!"

"Oh hi, Motoko-chan, come in. You're not still mad at me, are you? This running torture is really too much."

"Of course I'm still mad at you, and don't think you're getting out of running, today or any other day. But that's not why I'm here."

"So what can I do for you, then?" asked Mitsune. Motoko was now dressed in her traditional clothes, and her sword hung by her side. _That's not good,_ Mitsune thought worriedly.

Motoko hung her head down so she didn't have to look Mitsune in the eyes. "It's kind of embarrassing, especially talking to you of all people about it. I'm in the lair of the enemy, as it were. But I remembered what you said before, that you would give me a fair chance before you tried to win Keitaro for you own."

Motoko pressed on, suppressing her fierce pride. "I'm here," - she found this next part very agonizing to say - "I'm here to beg of you. I beg you for your help! You've said that you know you're a long shot with Keitaro, at best. But my main worry is that I will lose him to Mutsumi or Naru. I know that if I don't do something drastic, I'll lose him for sure! You're my only hope!"

"Me? What can I do?"

Motoko turned up towards Mitsune, and had an imploring look on her face. "You have to teach me how to flirt. How to be sexy. How to be smooth and refined. How to be everything that you are and I'm not. I'm hopeless! Mutsumi is so forward and beautiful and fun and funny - I'll never stand a chance against her! And he loves Naru so much, that if she ever just realized it and acted on it, both Mutsumi and I wouldn't stand a chance. I've realized that my only hope is you. I'm just so... I can't even tell the others how I feel about him, still. With your help, I stand a chance. Without it, I might as well give up now."

Motoko was literally down on her knees, in a posture of subjugation. She dropped her head again. Mitsune looked down at her skeptically.

Her response was brutally honest. "Why should I help you? As you put it, we're in competition about him. I said I would give you and him so space, but that only goes so far. What would I get in return?"

"Anything I can give you!" Motoko squirmed on the inside, to be in such a position of weakness.

"Anything, huh?" Mitsune put a hand on her chin and pondered. A sparkle came to her eyes. "Well, for starters, no more forcing me to run and banning me from drinking!"

"Sorry, that's the one thing I can't change," stated Motoko in a heavy but forceful voice. "A promise like that once made cannot be broken, if it's for my own selfish reasons."

"You would rather keep such a silly promise than win Keitaro?"

"I have my code of ethics. Without it, my life has no form or meaning. I'm sorry."

"Hmm. I gotta say, I admire your spunk. And it also appeals to my sense of fun and challenge to even up the odds a bit, against Mutsumi and Naru. But that's not enough for me to help you, when I'd be working against myself. I need something in return. Hmm. How about this. You know I said earlier that I would give you and Keitaro some space. But under our deal, starting now and until the time Keitaro formally has a girlfriend, I can do anything I like with him, and you won't say or do anything about it!"

"Anything? What do you mean?"

"I mean, I'm hoping for a repeat performance or two of what happened the other night. I know that I have little hope of become his formal girlfriend, but until he chooses one, I'd like to have him and hold him, and pretend that he's mine forever. He has no resistance against my charms. He needs a teacher in this phase where he's just discovering sex, and I fit the bill perfectly. In return, I will do everything I can to make him yours. Not only will I make you irresistibly sexy, but you know I make a lot of things happen around here. I just might be able to manipulate events to fall into your favor."

Motoko sighed. Thinking out loud, she replied, "I feel very dirty doing this, but I vowed to myself that I would do anything it takes to win him. Anything. There is no other option!" Her fists were clenched and her words strained. "And I have to make a calculated bet that you ultimately are not my main competitor. Doubtless you're going to seduce that weak-willed idiot again eventually, anyways, and I won't be able to stop it now or later unless I somehow learn your tricks and fight fire with fire. That weakling is just too perverted. Why the hell I have feelings for him, I can't figure out. Your bargain is contemptible, but I see no alternative. So I will accept your offer, but only on one condition."

"What's that?"

"Once he does choose a girlfriend, I can and will do anything in my power, and I do mean anything" - she pulled her sword part way out of her scabbard to emphasize the point- "to prevent you from ever getting physical with him again. Nothing but the most chaste kiss! If something were to happen between you two then, you will not blame it on Keitaro, or aphrodisiac, or anything else. You must be responsible for your own behavior! Even if he doesn't choose me, I will not have you interfere with whomever he does choose!"

"Fair enough. I don't want to be a home breaker, so that would just help put some needed backbone in my shaky morality. And what if he does choose me, in the end? What will you do then? You can't stop me from cheating on myself! I like it! You have yourself a deal."

"Alright then, Mitsune," nodded Motoko, with a resolute but heavy heart. "Where do we begin?"

**  
Chapter Nineteen: Listening In**

Motoko and Mitsune continued to sit and talk in Mitsune's room. "We can get started right now," began Mitsune. "First, we have to get you some real clothes. But even before that, it's necessary to tell you what exactly happened between us the night before last."

"Why? Do you delight in torturing me, and rubbing your sexual exploits in my face?"

"Well, yeah," grinned Mitsune in a joking tone. Motoko didn't see a joke. "That's a joke, Motoko! But the real reason is that you don't know sex from a hole in the ground. You're afraid of it. You're a beautiful woman, and normally a relationship between you two would slowly grow, just as you are. But there's the competition and lack of time to think about. If you're going to win him, you have to think differently, and make radical changes. For instance, look at what you're wearing compared to what I'm wearing."

Mitsune was wearing a tank top and shorts, revealing much of her lovely body. Motoko was wearing her traditional robes that hid all of her charms.

"Look at you!" pointed Mitsune. "You've got your breasts bundled up like you're afraid they'll leap off your chest and wreak havoc all over the countryside! My first command for you is to stop bundling up your breasts, even during your kendo practice, since you're with Keitaro there."

With no response but a stony stare, Mitsune continued, "But you have to not just look differently, but think differently. The problem with Keitaro is that, horny as he is, he's too polite to be the initiator. He has all the backbone of Hamlet, if you know who that is. So the only way you'll guarantee him for your own is if you seduce him. But you have too many mental hang-ups to be the initiator either.

"We have to get rid of those hang ups. For instance, take my idea just now to tell you the details of what happened last night. I'm sure you find the idea of hearing such details gross and demeaning. But women talk about these kinds of things with their friends all the time. How else will you learn? How did I initiate romantic contact with Keitaro? What kind of kissing did he like? What are the little tricks that gave him pleasure? You have no interest in any of that?"

Motoko's face was very red. The idea of being told the details of that night made sense, she realized, but it was too wildly at odds with her traditional upbringing. "Mitsune, you go too far!" she cried. She closed her eyes, turning her head away from Mitsune and throwing her hands up, as though the very idea were so repellent that she felt the need to physically ward it off.

Partly insulted and partly amused at Motoko's visceral reaction, Mitsune let her own antic humor get the better of her. Jumping to her feat, she pointed at Motoko, and cried out dramatically, "Nay Motoko! It is you who does not go far enough!"

Motoko turned her head back around to give Mitsune a slightly incredulous look, and Mitsune sank back into her chair, giggling a bit before composing herself. "Look, do you want my help or not?"

"Yes."

"And didn't you just say you were ready to try anything?"

"Yes. But that? Why can't we work up to that? This is happening too fast for me."

"I thought Motoko-chan was tougher than that," chastised Mitsune.

"Well, maybe you don't know me then," said Motoko in a huff. She folded her arms.

"Maybe I don't!"

"Maybe you don't then!"

The two had reached an impasse. Both stood with folded arms and closed eyes, facing slightly away from each other. Motoko wasn't certain if she should leave the room. Suddenly, an idea came to Mitsune.

"Okay, that's fine, I'll tell you about what happened later. It's just that I haven't told anyone what happened yet, and I kind of wanted to tell someone. Since you're not interested, I think I'll call up my friend Harue in Kyoto and tell her all about it." She reached for the phone. "Come back later, and we'll talk about clothes."

Motoko bowed, and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. Mitsune listened for the sound of Motoko walking away, but it seemed the sound of feet quickly slowed and then stopped altogether.

Mitsune thought to herself as she dialed her friend's number, _Heh__-heh, if I know Motoko, she really wants to hear what I have to say, but can't bear the embarrassment of listening while standing face to face. This way, we can avoid that, if she's start enough to stay standing outside the door._

Mitsune's friend wasn't home, but she realized that didn't really matter. She spoke into the phone as if she was speaking to someone. "Hi Harue? Long time no hear. Hey, guess what? I've got something I'm just dying to tell someone, and I can't tell anyone here. You won't believe what happened the night before last...."

Mitsune went on to describe what happened in graphic detail. She even stood near her door and spoke in a loud voice, to make sure Motoko could hear, confidently assuming she was still there.

In actual fact, Keitaro was no great Don Juan in his first sexual experience. Not only was he all enthusiasm and no expertise, but an initial nosebleed, several panic attacks, and most disturbingly, a tendency to cry out "Narusegawa, forgive me!" at the most unsettling times were all a bit trying. Not to mention, both he and her were fairly drunk before she finally seduced him. Mitsune didn't mind - she looked forward to the opportunity and challenge of making him an impressive lover. But for Motoko's sake, she glossed over all of those things, and instead tried to describe what happened in terms that would appeal to Motoko, with an emphasis on Keitaro's charms.

Finally, Mitsune reached near the end of her "phone call." She continued, into the phone "...So then, he reached out and touched me there again. He kissed me on the shoulder and ears, and then I began..." Suddenly, Mitsune heard a voice. _That sounds like Keitaro, of all people! It sounds like he's walking right up to Motoko!_

"Motoko-chan, what are you..." Mitsune heard a scream and the sounds of hitting and crashing. 

Outside her door, Motoko had been listening intently with eyes closed, gripping the wall near Mitsune's door. She was so carried away that she completely failed to notice Keitaro, who casually walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulder. Suddenly realizing who was standing behind her, Motoko jumped so high into the air that even a professional basketball player would have been envious. But in an impressive display of her lightning reflexes, she instinctively turned around and punched Keitaro in the face while she flew up into the air, sending him flying fall down the hallway.

Mitsune dropped the phone and hurriedly opened her door. Keitaro was sitting on the ground and putting his glasses back on. "What did I do?" he cried out.

"Uh, you just startled me, is all!" replied an embarrassed Motoko, also flat on her ass. "Sorry!" Her face was beet-red. _Damn,_ she thought. _What did he hear? If he heard, I'll have to leave Hinata Inn! The shame! My shameful act - listening in to Mitsune's private and intimate conversation!_

Mitsune smiled and waved at Keitaro. "We're just playing girly games over here!" she shouted to him, then grabbed Motoko by the sleeve, and pulled her into her room. She poked her head out again and watched him walk away befuddled, and then shut the door.

She frowned at Motoko. "Don't worry about your eavesdropping on me. I figured you were there, and was speaking up for your benefit. And don't worry; he didn't overhear anything. Lucky for you, he's not exactly quick on the uptake. But punching Keitaro for walking up to you? My first command was don't bind up your breasts. My second is, if you're seducing someone, don't try to kill them first! No more punching of Keitaro!"

Motoko hung her head sheepishly. "Sorry! Reflexes..." she grimaced. She thought to herself, _This woman is too clever. That phone call trick! I'm glad she's on my side, for now at least, it seems._

'Don't worry about it," said Mitsune breezily. "We're going to make a lady of you yet. Now you're going to have to do something to make up for your assassination attempt just now. And apologies are not your strong suit. Let's see... Do you have another study session with him this afternoon?"

"No. He said he was going somewhere. But we have one tomorrow, at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and training tomorrow morning."

"Alright, that gives us plenty of time. We'll be able to get a dress for you in time for your study session that will completely knock him out. His won't even notice his books! Not only that, but we'll have to get you a whole new wardrobe. I hope you have some money. Are you ready? Let's go!"

**  
Chapter Twenty: Who's The Sex Maniac?**

Keitaro found himself in front of Toudai, the university of his dreams. The fact was, he just didn't want to be around Hinata Inn, but he couldn't think of any good excuse to get away. So he just wandered around and wound up there.

He was afraid of running into either of two people. First, Mitsune. He thought, _I realize I don't love her. But at the same time, now, whenever I see her, I only want to rip her clothes off and make passionate love to her! I'm sorry, but they must all be right - maybe I am a hopeless pervert. I just can't get the night we spent together out of my head. I can't even think what would happen if I were to find myself alone with her again!_

He realized too that he didn't really know or understand her. _Would I love her if I only knew her better? On the outside she's so friendly, but she's so secretive about her inner self. Maybe if I really knew her, maybe she's the one for me…_

At the same time, he thought about how much he loved Motoko, but he couldn't imagine making love to her. Every time he tried, in his imagination, Motoko would grow angry at his forwardness, launch one of her patented secret technique attacks on him, and leave him imbedded in a rock. 

So he played hooky for the afternoon, and tried to push both of them out of his mind. Instead, he focused on thinking about his future. _I guess that's why I ended up here. To think of what will happen here, in the next month and for the next few years._

He went looking around Toudai for the archeology department, and peered into its windows. Everyone was gone on vacation, it seemed. _So ironic,_ he thought. _I tried so hard to get here, first because of a childhood promise, and then because of Narusegawa. Without those two lures, and especially the help of Naru, I never could have made it. Yet, now I've had sex with her best friend, and kissed another one of her good friends. I seem to have sex on the brain, all of the sudden. After what happened with Mitsune, I'd probably have sex with a rock, if it asked nicely! Who knows to what kind of moral low I'll fall before she gets back. When she does get back, I'm sure she'll think I'm a totally perverted sex maniac, and will never want to speak to me again. And yet, I owe everything to her. This is how I repay her!_

She'll be right! I probably am a perverted sex maniac, too. In all honesty, even if I didn't drink the aphrodisiac, I would have gladly slept with Mitsune anyway. In fact, now that I think about it, I don't remember feeling anything special from the aphrodisiac. I wonder if it even worked. I'm the one to blame!

I've been so starved for love. No girl would even talk to me, much less want to kiss me, until I was nineteen years old. I still have never had a girlfriend. How can I resist if a beautiful girl throws herself at me? I'm only human!... Or am I really perverted and despicable?

_I'm not making a lot of progress thinking about my future, am I? I need to forget about women altogether, and just focus on this place. No doubt, come September I'll be beginning a whole new life. I'll be having new experiences, and new friends. In fact, since Narusegawa will want to see me dead, the only classmate I'll know here is Mutsumi. What will she think about what I've done? I'd hate to lose her from my life. She's so kind and beautiful..._

He began to daydream about Mutsumi, less about how kind she was, and more about her beauty.

_Get a grip, Keitaro!_ he chided himself. _Is that all you can think about, beautiful women? You really are a hopeless case!_

...

Keitaro returned to the inn no more at ease than when he left. He was quiet during dinner, and immediately headed towards his room. On his way there, he saw Tama and Mecha-Tama crawling along the floor. They looked to be traveling hand in hand (or perhaps one should say flipper in flipper), as much as a turtle and mechanical turtle could look that way. _That's odd. I wonder what happened to those two._

Back in his room, Keitaro tried reading a book. But he wasn't enjoying it. He got out his album containing his collection of photo booth stickers. As he'd done so many times before, he stared at the picture of him and Naru.

But that only made him depressed. It was like willfully cutting himself with a knife. So he went to his private hot tub to forget his worries.

Not long after, Mitsune tracked him down. "Can I come in?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure." Keitaro quickly grabbed a towel, dunked it into the water and wrapped it around his loins.

Keitaro watched her walk onto his balcony, and he immediately regretted allowing her in. She was wearing nothing but a towel, and one that just barely covered all that it should. _Ooooohhhh man,_ groaned Keitaro in frustrated thoughts. _Willpower. Remember: willpower!_

"Looks like you had the same idea as me: taking a dip," Mitsune said playfully. She kneeled in front of his hot tub and grabbed the rim, so she could look closely into his face. His hot tub was literally a tub or barrel, so there was no place for him to hide.

"I just came by to see if you were doing okay. The last day or two must have been hard on you."

"Yeah, you could say that. I can't get my thoughts together. I'm so indecisive! I spent all afternoon wandering around Toudai, but no matter where I go, or what I do, all I can think about are the women of Hinata Inn."

"Are you sorry that we had sex?"

"No, I'm not sorry. Any man would kill to be in my shoes. But that doesn't make my problems any easier. I think that love and lust must cause more pain than it gives pleasure, overall."

"Keitaro, I think you're wiser than you look. I've been wounded in love too, and maybe that's why I act so blaze about it."

They were both quiet for a while. Mitsune put her hand in the water and began stirring it. "The water feels nice. Is there room enough for two?"

He shook his head no, and tried to make a joke about it. "I don't think your breasts would fit, anyways."

"Oh you mean these?" She placed her breasts on the top of the rim of the hot tub, causing her towel to fall away.

"Mitsune, are you trying to turn me into a sex maniac? Because you're succeeding! I think I'm going to have to join a monastery or lose my mind. There's no way someone like me should be a manager of a girl's dormitory!"

"I think you're doing very well. The reason we all love you so much is because you're such a kind-hearted person. For two years, you could have taken advantage of any of us, but you never did."

"If you love me so much, will you remove your hand, before I lose all self-control?"

Mitsune's hand had gone from deeply stirring the water to finding its way between Keitaro's legs. She reluctantly pulled her hand out of the water. "Oh! Is that what I was holding?" she asked innocently with a sly grin on her face. "I was wondering what that was."

Keitaro was fighting a losing battle to keep his lust-addled brain on an even keel. "Mitsune, Suu told me you helped Motoko buy some sexy new clothes today. How could you do that, and do this," he grabbed her hand and held it. He figured that would at least stop it from getting into more mischief.

"I don't really understand why I do what I do, myself. I just live from minute to minute, and I do what gives me pleasure. It's been a long time since I've been sexually active, and now you give me pleasure."

"And yet you're helping Motoko?" 

"Seeing her happy gives me pleasure. Plus, we made a deal. I'll help her get you as a boyfriend, and she will ignore all my affections towards you, for the time being. She's so in love, she'll do anything to get you."

"Mitsune, why did you have to tell me that? You're just destroying my willpower even further! After all, I'm a red-blooded male!"

'That's my plan, heh-heh. I actually was going to give you a breather so you could absorb all that's happened to you. But now I've got the make the most of my deal!"

"You're too much. I'm not hearing this!" Keitaro submerged his head underwater, and held his breath for a long time, until Mitsune was gone. _That was too close,_ he thought. _No willpower._

...

Back in her room, Mitsune sat up naked on her futon, tears slowly rolling down her face. _What am I doing? I'm just playing a role again. The problem is, I play it too well._ She clutched her breasts briefly, and continued thinking: _Ever since these breasts showed up, men have only seen me as a sex object. I could never love any of them because I knew they didn't really love me, just my body. So since I can't find true love myself, nothing pleases me more than seeing true love fulfilled in others. I keeping trying to set Keitaro up with others and then drive him away from me in the process. How many times did I try to push him and Naru together, even though it pained me to do so?_

_And now since I can't express my real feelings for him, I'm trying to please him with my body and find mutual pleasure that way. But that's not what I really want! That's not all that I want. Despite my careless exterior, I want to be someone's wife, and deeply in love. Mutual love. HIS wife!_

Am I willing to step aside if he chooses someone else? I don't really know. Why did I make that deal with Motoko? But even with the self-awareness of my problems, I can't change. I do one thing one day, the opposite the next, and gamble and drink to forget. This is so fucked up!

I need someone to tutor ME on love! How can I turn his desire for my body into real romantic feelings for me, the Mitsune that's on the inside?

**  
Chapter Twenty-One: The First Dividends**

The next afternoon, Keitaro sat in the lobby of the Hinata Inn, bent over the low table and reading a textbook. He heard someone approaching. "Keitaro!"

He looked up and saw Motoko standing there, a vision of loveliness. She was wearing a low-cut yellow dress that also left her arms and much of her back exposed. She had a small amount of make up on her face - not enough so that Keitaro consciously noticed she was wearing it, but enough to slightly accent her beautiful facial features. She had her hair done up in a bun, something she'd never done before. It suited her perfectly.

Keitaro was wowed. Obviously, Mitsune was behind this. "Motoko-chan! What's the special occasion?"

"No special occasion. Actually, you're the occasion. I did this to please you. Do you like it?" Mitsune had coached her to say that.

"Yes, very much!" There was a bit of an awkward silence. Keitaro tried to think of more to say.

"You know what though, you're dressed up too nice just to study. That's more like something someone would wear for a night out on the town. Would you like, uh, umm, would you like to go to the movies with me, just you and me?"

Motoko wasn't expecting that. On the outside she was cool as a cucumber, for once. But on the inside, she mentally jumped flips in joy, thinking, _Yes! Mitsune, you just made yourself one very satisfied student! Maybe I have a chance with him, after all!_

Before she had a chance to answer, Sara came in from the kitchen to see what the commotion was about. "Wow, you look pretty," Sara said to Motoko. "What's the special occasion?"

Motoko was confused. She had kissed Keitaro in private yesterday, but in public she didn't know how to handle their relationship, or what she should say.

Finally, she said, "No special occasion. Except that Keitaro is taking me to the movies tonight." She turned towards Keitaro and gave him a warm smile.

"A movie? Goody! Can I come too?" said Sara.

"Next time," answered Keitaro. "This time, I have plans with Motoko-chan. Just me and her."

...

Motoko at least, didn't get much studying done that day. She stared at her book, but spent most of her time daydreaming about Keitaro and their upcoming date. _It's disconcerting to dream of someone sitting right next to you, _she realized, but that didn't slow her down much. In her mind, Keitaro and her were dancing and singing up and down the streets of the town, as if they were in some Fred Astaire movie. But back in the real world, every now and then, someone would walk up and disturb her thoughts by asking her, "What's the special occasion?" Soon, everyone, even Haruka, knew about the movie date plans.

One person in particular was not happy at all. Shinobu. In her mind, this completely confirmed her fears that something intensely romantic was happening between Keitaro and Motoko.

...

When Motoko's study session ended, she ran straight to Mitsune's room. As soon as she closed the door, she cried out, "Mitsune, thank you so much! He asked me out on a date! We're going to the movies, just the two of us!" She clutched her books to her chest and jumped up and down, just like a little schoolgirl.

Mitsune smiled, a bit chagrined. She thought to herself, _I'm good. Dang, maybe I'm too good. Ah well, they're in love, what can you expect. We have to make them happy. Helping Motoko out is worth it just to see her that unusually joyous._

Her self-introspective mood briefly shown the night before was nowhere in sight, in the bright of day. But she tried to calm Motoko down. "Congratulations. But don't just stand there, pirouetting about. We've got our work cut out for us. He's taking you to dinner too, yes?" Motoko nodded enthusiastically. "Okay, so that means we've got a couple of hours to train you on dating etiquette."

Motoko gave Mitsune a surprisingly wicked grin. "We have less time than that. You still haven't run your ten kilometers yet!"

"That? You're still thinking of that? I still need to recover from your torture run yesterday! How can you do this to me even as I'm helping you so much?"

Motoko grew serious. "Mitsune, when I make a vow or promise, I keep it. I'll admit that when I made you agree to that, I was angry with you and wanted to see you suffer a bit. I'd be lying, too, if I didn't say that I'm getting a certain perverse pleasure in watching you huff and puff as you run. You are after all, still trying to get Keitaro in bed. And I don't even want to know if you're succeeding.

"But this thought also occurred to me when we ran yesterday: the promise you made is really not for me, it's for yourself. I have been seriously concerned for you, and just never said anything because we haven't been the closest of friends. I have trouble expressing myself, sometimes... But you drink so much, you could eventually really become an alcoholic. I don't want to see that happen to you. Every night, and sometimes even in the morning! It's too much! And you take your figure for granted, but it won't last for long unless you take care of it. If you get more in shape, you'll be even more beautiful, and no man will be able to resist you."

Mitsune replied mischievously, "Hmm, then maybe next month it'll be me going on a date with Keitaro instead of you! All right, I'll let you drag me outside, since you're such a fanatic. But just keep in mind that you're creating a monster." The two of them sincerely smiled at other.

**  
Chapter Twenty-Two: The Date Is A Hit**

Motoko was as excited as a girl on her first date, which of course was exactly what she was. Haruka and all the residents of Hinata Inn stood at the front door of the inn and saw them off. Motoko again wore the dress she was wearing earlier, and Keitaro wore a formal but stylish jacket.

Unfortunately the date didn't go that well, at first. Motoko was so flustered, that she didn't know whether she was coming or going. Walking to the restaurant, she literally walked straight into a light pole and fell flat onto her back. It seemed as if everyone they passed on the street stared at her, which just rattled her further. Mitsune had given her a lot of specific, good advice, but Motoko forgot it all, and pretty much grinned like an idiot through dinner, to hide her other emotions. Not a lot was said.

They saw a Jackie Chan film, which was hardly the most romantic thing in the world, but then again, Keitaro didn't have someone to give him romantic advice. Normally, Motoko would have loved that kind of film, but she was too busy wondering if Keitaro would try to make any moves on her to pay much attention to the film. Now that she was actually there, she didn't know what she wanted him to do. She had visions of him groping at her like an octopus that were alternately alarming and appealing. But when the movie ended and Keitaro still hadn't even tried to put his arm around her shoulder, that made her pissed off.

Keitaro had no plans to get romantic, as he was still holding true to his earlier comment that he wanted to wait until he saw Mutsumi and Narusegawa again before he made serious decisions about having a girlfriend. As the movie played, he reflected that he really shouldn't have suggested this date idea in the first place, but he was the kind of person who tended to act before thinking things through. He guiltily thought about his presence on this date even as he was recently showing an inability to resist Mitsune. He didn't know what Motoko expected, or what he wanted. He wasn't enjoying himself, either.

Walking back to the inn, Motoko was even more distracted, thinking about all the mistakes she had made earlier in the evening, and also gloomily doubting that Keitaro would try to kiss her before the evening was over. She was so distracted, that at one street corner where she and Keitaro stopped for a traffic light, she kept right on walking straight into the traffic.

Luckily, Keitaro acted quickly, and pulled her back to the curb before a car could hit her. But Keitaro being Keitaro, he found himself with one hand on her shoulder, and the other accidentally holding one of her breasts. Letting out all of her pent up frustration, Motoko shouted, "NOW you make a move!" and proceeded to punch him in the face. Keitaro flew back, knocking into several bystanders, and then fell on top of them.

Motoko realized in horror what her reflexes had done, and ran away from him. Keitaro got up, and ran after her. As he shouted, "Motoko! Motoko!" he thought to himself ruefully, _This is exactly like a date with Narusegawa! Are all dates like this?_

One difference with Naru though, is that the long-legged Motoko could outrun him. She eventually reached the bottom of the long series of stairs leading to the Hinata Inn, and paused. She was afraid to go on. She thought about how ridiculous it would look for the others at the inn to see her running back into the inn, with Keitaro chasing her. _Damn, I've really blown it this time.__ Why did I run this way?_

Keitaro was close behind, and soon caught up with her. He also stopped. Both bent over, next to each other, too winded to speak. Keitaro could only manage to get out "Mo" "to" "ko" between labored breaths. Finally they both stood up. Keitaro put his hands on her shoulders and prepared to speak.

But before he could, Motoko said, "Don't speak. I know what you're going to say. You're sorry for grabbing me."

"Yeah."

"Don't be! It's my fault. You may have saved my life back at the intersection. I'm the one who's sorry! I ruined our date." A few tears flowed down her face. "I'm sorry, I've just never been on this kind of date before..."

Keitaro cut in. "Forget it! We'll have another date, and we'll get it right next time, okay?"

A glimmer of a smile appeared on Motoko's face. The two were still winded, and covered with sweat. It seemed all that the makeup, piled up hair, and other changes to Motoko fell away during the chase. The warrior Motoko was peeking through.

"I had a fun evening," he continued. "Getting punched only once in an evening is much better than average for me." That made Motoko smiled a bit more. "Look... As I said before, I'm not ready to choose a girlfriend. We're just seeing a movie, right? I'd like to do it again, if you would. I really don't want to be romantic at this moment, I just wanted to get to know you better, get closer to you. So I had no plans to do this, but I think this will be okay..."

He leaned forward and kissed Motoko on the lips, but kept his mouth closed, and pulled back before the stunned Motoko had a chance to react.

"I didn't just do that," he said, and smiled. Motoko recovered, and broke into a smile too. This wasn't really exactly the same Keitaro or Motoko of even a few days ago. Keitaro wiped away Motoko's few tears. Both of them looked up at the daunting number of steps towering up in front of them. They were still winded from all the running.

Motoko looked around her - something nagged her mind about where they were standing. And then she remembered. "You know, this is exactly where you pulled off my..." She blushed and couldn't go on, but Keitaro immediately knew what she was talking about. Some months ago, in trying to stop Motoko from falling, Keitaro somehow grabbed her panties and pulled them off, and then gawked at her ass after she fell to the ground. Now it was his turn to blush.

Motoko added, "I think about that every time I pass here. I no longer find your actions so...." - there was a long pause as she looked for the right word - "objectionable. But you're still too perverted." They both had a bit of a laugh over that, and started walking up the stairs.

When they reached the inn, both of them put on their best poker faces, in a mutually unspoken attempt to frustrate the other residents, who were all still up and waiting to find out how the date had gone. In the lobby, with everyone else standing around, Keitaro said to Motoko, "Well, we already said our good nights earlier, didn't we?"

"Yes we did."

"So how is everyone else doing, then?" He was surprised to see that even Haruka was there, cigarette hanging out of her mouth as usual. "Shouldn't an old woman like you be in bed already?"

A karate chop to his head quickly followed, as he knew it would. He loved to tease her like that just the same.

He began talking to the others about the movie. After saying a few things, he spied Motoko out of the corner of his eye, and the two of them shared a private, knowing smile. Both of them were enjoying this attempt to keep the others frustrated. _Poker faces, but talk of a private good night. That'll keep them guessing,_ thought Keitaro with amusement.

The crowd broke up, and everyone, including Motoko and Keitaro, made their way towards their respective beds. But after a few minutes, Motoko thought the coast was clear and headed to Mitsune's room. Mitsune was waiting for her there. The pupil just couldn't resist reporting to her new teacher.

Motoko slid the door closed, and the two spoke in hushed tones.

"Well, how did it go?" asked Mitsune.

"At first, not too good. I forgot all your advice, all of it. And I punched him in the face again. It was a total disaster, actually. I'm not cut out for this kind of thing! I appreciate your help, but I'm a hopeless case. In the movie, I kept wondering if he would put him arm around me, but he behaved like a strict gentleman. And then I almost got killed on the way back. It's a long, horrible story."

"But none of that matters, because when we said goodnight, he kissed me. He kissed me! Only for a second, but it was on the lips! I'm not ashamed to say it any more: I'm in love!"

The two of them were not alone. Shinobu had been fully alert since Keitaro returned from the date, trying desperately to figure out every last clue and learn what happened. At the sound of Mitsune's door creaking open, she quickly covered the distance from the kitchen to Mitsune's room to see if she could learn something more. She recklessly pressed her ear to Mitsune's door in an attempt to hear their quiet voices.

She only heard a few sentences, and then didn't want to hear any more. Shinobu ran back to the kitchen, and began to cry. In her mind, she replayed what she'd just heard from Motoko: _"He kissed me!" "On the lips!" "I'm in love!" _She thought to herself, _This can't be happening! It's no fair! If I were a few years older, that would be me he would be kissing, not Motoko-san! She's not much older than me. And he's kissing Mitsune-san too? He's kissing everyone but me! He loves everyone but me!_

This never happened when Naru was here. Having the two of them together wasn't so bad, because it seemed like every time something mushy was about to happen to them, something else would prevent it. Especially Mutsumi. She always seemed to be getting in the way just in the nick of time.

I need to do something! Mutsumi loves him too, but if she were here, maybe she and Motoko could keep each other from getting too close to Keitaro, like what happened with Mutsumi and Naru before. She's not due here for another week and a half, I think. The way things are going, by then Keitaro will have Motoko as a girlfriend already! I have to act now!

Shinobu rushed to her room, found a phone card and Mutsumi's phone number, and then rushed to the telephone in the lobby. It was almost eleven o'clock at night.

"Hello? Yes, so sorry for calling so late at night, but it's urgent. I'm calling from the Hinata Inn in Tokyo. Can I please speak to Mutsumi-san?"

As she held the phone and waited for Mutsumi to be fetched, Shinobu thought to herself, _I hope I'm doing the right thing! This is like putting out a fire with gasoline, but what else can I do? Sorry __Sempai, but if I can just keep you from having a girlfriend longer, eventually I'll grow older and..._

Her train of thought was interrupted as Mutsumi reached the phone. For once, no one was eavesdropping in the Hinata Inn, but if anybody had been, they would have heard Shinobu say the following:

"Good evening, Mutsumi-san! Sorry for calling at this late hour!"

"No, there's no emergency. Everyone here is fine." She struggled to keep her voice from trembling.

"That's good. Um, the reason I'm calling is just because I wanted to ask you an important question. So sorry, please forgive me for my bluntness, but let me just ask you directly." She paused, and finally blurted it out: "Are you in love with Keitaro?"

"I see. He is wonderful, I can't argue with that. But do you want to be his girlfriend?"

"Well then, you'd better act fast. He just got back home from a movie date with Motoko-sempai. They've grown very close in the last few weeks. If you wait to get back, you'll be too late! We're all planning on going on a trip to the beach teahouse in three days. You must get back by then. Please return immediately!"


	5. Part 5

**The Kiss That Never Was, Part Five**

**Chapter Twenty-Three: Things That Go Bump in the Night**

Click. The lightly sleeping Keitaro suddenly woke up. He heard the sound of something quietly scraping across the floor, as if a sliding door was sliding along its tracks. He opened his eyes, but it did him no good, as his room was completely pitch black.

Click. _That must be the sound of a door closing,_ thought Keitaro with growing panic. _A very, very nearby door. My door? Is there a thief in my room?!?_ Keitaro bolted up in his bed and frantically tried to think of what he could grab to use as a weapon against his assailant.

"Shhh.... It's me, Mitsune." The whispered voice was coming from somewhere very close.

"Mitsune, is that you? You scared the hell out of me! Where are you? What are you doing? It's the middle of the night!"

"Shhh... Be quiet. Nothing to panic about. I was just having trouble sleeping, and thought I would stop by and say 'hi.'"

"Say 'hi'?!? What? Mitsune, you can't be here!" said Keitaro in frantic but hushed tones.

His eyes were slowly adjusting to the dim light of the stars, and he scanned the room to see where her voice was coming from.

_Ah, there she is,_ he thought. _Oh no, it looks like she's only wearing a white terra cloth bathrobe. And wait - the robe - it's falling from her shoulders!_

"Mitsune, what are you doing?!?"

"I was having such trouble sleeping; I was hoping you could comfort me." She reached out in the darkness and began stroking his hair. "You know how Suu has trouble sleeping so she sleeps in Motoko's bed? I was thinking that was a very capital idea." Mitsune slid herself under Keitaro's comforter, and cuddled her naked body up next to his.

"But, but, no!" stuttered Keitaro. "That's different! They're both women!"

"Are you saying I should go sleep in someone else's room?" Mitsune began kissing her way towards Keitaro's face, and roaming her hands over his body. "After all…" kiss "It's so convenient that your room is right next to mine..." kiss "and the other's rooms are so far away..." kiss "You're so kind..." kiss "To help a friend in need..."

Her face reached his, and they began a lengthy face-to-face kiss. But even as his body was acting one way, his mind was racing in the other. _No! This is wrong!_ he yelled inside his own head. _As soon as this kiss ends, I have to put my foot down. Send Mitsune back to her room. Think about willpower. Think about Motoko, Mutsumi... Naru..._

The kiss finally came to an end, and Keitaro blurted out, "Mitsune, this is wrong! I have to be firm!"

"I can see you're doing very well in that department," Mitsune giggled quietly. Her hands were still roaming his body, and found a different confirmation of his statement than he was intending.

"Do you really want me to go?" asked Mitsune in a more understanding tone. "Just say the word and I'll go." She drew away from him, so he could have a chance to seriously think. She didn't want this if it wasn't something he really wanted as well.

Conflicting emotions battled in Keitaro's head. When he finally opened his mouth, he didn't know what would come out: "Ye-ye-yes... No... No. Please stay." They kissed again, and Keitaro rolled on top of Mitsune.

---

Beep, beep, beep! Keitaro reached out and slammed his hand onto his alarm clock. He opened his eyes and looked around. The sun was already up in the sky and pouring through his windows.

It suddenly came to him, what he and Mitsune had done the night before. He looked all around, but she was gone, and there was absolutely no hint remaining that she had been there. He reflexively put on his nerdy glasses.

This was the second time they had made love. His reaction was far different from how he felt after waking up the first time. He wasn't having a panicky attack of shock and confusion. Instead, he just sat up in his bed and looked glum.

One reason for his calm demeanor was that he was waking up in his own familiar bed this time. But mostly it was because he was too aware and a deliberate participant of what happened to fool himself now that he didn't know what was happening.

And he was glum not because he didn't enjoy what happened the night before, but rather, because he enjoyed and wanted it so much. _This is so strange - I've never yet had a girlfriend, officially, but I already feel like I'm cheating._

_The night before last, I had a date with Motoko. Well, sort of a date, anyways. I should be thinking about her! And I have to get up and go practice with her right now! How can I face her? And tomorrow Mutsumi will be coming here. I should be excited about that. And I am, I guess. But now I'm going to be spending all day wondering if Mitsune is going to sneak into my bedroom tonight, and hoping that she will. Damn!_

_There's no way this sneaking around with Mitsune can last. We'll all be going to the beach the day after tomorrow, and all sleeping in close proximity there, so no chance for fooling around. And I really need to use that time at the beach to make my choice between Motoko and Mutsumi, the two women I really love, given that Narusegawa hates me. I really have to make my choice before we leave the beach. It's not fair to anyone to draw this out, like I've done before, when I wasn't willing to let go of the hands of Mutsumi or Naru._

_So what happened last night has to be a last time. Unless she does it again tonight! I hope she doesn't force me to make that choice again, with so much in flux. If nothing else, we'll be caught before too long. I can't lead her on and give her reason to think she means the most to me. I can't believe how weak I am. I never make the tough decisions, and I let other people decide for me._

_So why is that all I can think about right now is Mitsune?_

**  
Chapter Twenty-Four: Princesses and Trolls**

Keitaro's morning kendo practice with Motoko went by agonizingly slowly. He felt terrible from too little sleep. He had considered lying and telling her that he hadn't slept well the night before, so he could beg off the practice. But he decided that silence was slightly better than telling a lie. Besides, the lie was disturbingly close to the truth. Given all that had happened in the last few days, an observant person would wonder just WHY he didn't get much sleep.

What made things worse was that the moodier he got as the practice went on, the more encouraging Motoko behaved, in an attempt to cheer him up. That would just depress him even more, which would make her try to act upbeat even more, in a vicious cycle of attempted kindness. _It's going to be a really long day_, groaned Keitaro.

---

But the day wasn't all bad. On his last movie date with Motoko, he'd promised Sara that next time he'd take her to the movies as well, and he'd also offended Mitsune by leaving her out of previous movie plans. So, that night, all the Hinata Inn residents - Keitaro, Motoko, Mitsune, Shinobu, Suu, and Sara - went to see a movie together. To his chagrin, Keitaro found that he had to pay for everyone's tickets.

They saw the sci-fi classic "Star Wars," which was in the theaters again for yet another remastering and revival. Most everyone had seen it already, but they all enjoyed it just the same.

Afterwards, they ate ice cream at a cafe near the movie theater, and talked about how much they all liked the film. Someone said it was a great film for all ages, and that put an idea into Keitaro's head.

"Hey, you know what," he said to everyone, excitedly. "The day after tomorrow we're all leaving for the beach. After our infamous play we put on last year, you know there's no way Haruka is going to let us get away without putting on another one this year. Last year we did a traditional play. Maybe this year we could do a modern one."

"What, you mean Star Wars?" queried Mitsune.

"Yeah, why not? Everyone knows it, and it's got sword fights, which is one of our strong points, good costumes, a pretty princess to be saved..."

"I'll bet I know who thinks he's going to be the one to save the princess," said Mitsune with a wry smile.

Suu jumped up and began shouting, "Yes! Action! Adventure! Guns! Light sabers!" She punctuated each word with a high kick or punch into the air.

"I take it Suu likes the idea," said Keitaro. "What does everyone else think?"

Sara also started jumping around, firing imaginary weapons towards Suu and yelling, "It's great! Take that, Darth Vader!" Clearly she was in.

Shinobu said, "Yeah, I suppose so, Sempai. Any choice is fine with me." Alone of the group, she seemed to not be enjoying herself that evening. She'd been very subdued all day.

Motoko, trying to appear unenthusiastic about the whole play idea, said, "We besmirch our traditions, but judging from last year, we besmirch them more by trying for a traditional performance. Plus, I guess anything is better than having to be a water troll."

That left Mitsune. She asked, "Do I get to play Princess Leia?"

"Hey, no fair!" Motoko butted in. "Last time, I had to be a TROLL!"

That led to a spirited discussion over who should play what that lasted the rest of the evening. Nothing was immediately resolved, but as soon as they returned to the inn, Suu immediately began creating all the backgrounds, weapons and other scene props that would be needed. She had a lot of help from everyone else. They all would have a lot to keep busy with in the next week.

---

Keitaro was a bit surprised and disappointed that he didn't have a visitor to his bedroom that night.

**  
Chapter Twenty-Five: Dangerous Escalators**

Keitaro, Mitsune, Motoko, Suu, Sara, and Shinobu all sat waiting at the Tokyo airport. They were bored. Thanks to Shinobu's call, this was the day Mutsumi would finally come back from Okinawa. She'd called the Hinata Inn with her arrival time the day after Shinobu called her. However, her plane was very late, which caused them all to miss lunch.

Tama the turtle was also there, since Mutsumi originally owned her before she had been given as a gift to the Hinata Inn. Mecha-Tama also tagged along. Even since the day Tama had been given Suu's aphrodisiac and began chasing Mecha-Tama, the turtle and mechanical turtle appeared to be inseparable from each other. No one, not even Suu, could quite explain why. Mecha-Tama had no gender or sex organs, and wasn't programmed to understand love. But somehow none of that seemed to matter.

Keitaro was very pensive, thinking about Mutsumi's imminent arrival. _This could be it. When I see Muts__u__mi's face, this could be the moment when I realize my true feelings for her, and her for me. When I see her face, and look into her eyes, then I'll know... We'll both know... But how can she really know her true feelings for me, if I haven't told her about what's been happening between me and Motoko and Mitsune? Will she still want to talk to me? How can I explain that stuff to her?_

All this sitting around waiting and thinking was making him stir-crazy. Keitaro stood up and said to the others, "I think this may be the wrong gate. She may have been bumped to the other flight coming from Okinawa. I'm going to go take a look."

Before he was even 100 meters from the group, as Keitaro neared an escalator coming up from a lower level, he spotted Mutsumi's face through the crowd. First he saw her head, with a lovely green hat on it, and then the rest of her body was slowly revealed as she rose to the top of the escalator. "Mutsumi!" he shouted, and he pressed his way forward faster through the crowd.

Mutsumi now saw him too. "Urashima-kun!" she shouted in return. Keitaro ran towards her with arms outstretched, while still holding a present in one of his hands. Mutsumi, now reaching the top of the escalator, also stretched out her arms and prepared to greet him with a big hug. She appeared to be holding a small watermelon like a basketball, in the palm of one of her hands.

But right as the two reached each other, Mutsumi also came to the end of the escalator, and, not paying attention to it, found herself falling forward. The running Keitaro found himself hugging air where he thought she would be. He flew right past Mutsumi and went crashing down the steps of the up escalator. He finally came to a stop half way down, thanks to all of the people coming up the escalator that he plowed into and knocked down. "Mutsumi!" he cried again, as he stood up and then fell back down the escalator again. He fumbled around for his gift.

The escalator kept sending him up, and he finally managed to find his feet. Meanwhile, Mutsumi picked herself up and turned back towards the escalator. "Urashima-kun!" she yelled.

Again, they met at the top of the escalator with open arms, this time with their positions reversed. But Keitaro misjudged the timing of the escalator and was propelled forward faster than anticipated. His head and Mutsumi's bonked together, making a loud thud like the sound of two coconuts hitting. Both were propelled away from the escalator (luckily!) and fell sprawled out on the ground.

When Keitaro came to his senses a few seconds later, he realized he still had his present in one hand, and a.... breast... in the other! He pulled his hand away, and sat up to see a smiling, and very cheerful Mutsumi also getting up next to him.

"I'm so sorry, Mutsumi!" He made a quick series of embarrassed bows from his seated position.

She laughed, "It's good to see you, Urashima!" Both rubbed their sore heads, blushed for their clumsiness, and then laughed some more. 

Mitsune walked up to Mutsumi and handed Mutsumi's watermelon back, because it had rolled away during her second fall. "I think you lost this, Turtle Lady," she said good-naturedly. All the others from Hinata stood beside Mitsune and were all laughing too. Clearly, they had seen the whole embarrassing episode.

"I forgot how it is when you two are together," said Mitsune. "I don't know if you two are made to be with each other, or if you two should stay as far apart as possible! Together, you two might be a public danger for Tokyo, like Godzilla and Mecha Godzilla."

_Made to be with each other?_ thought Keitaro. _Oh yeah, whatever happened to that important first look we were going to share?_ He looked over at Mutsumi, now surrounded by the others. They were giving her affectionate hugs and gentle punches as they helped her up from the ground. Tama-chan also flew around excitedly in the air, buzzing as close to Mutsumi's head as she could get. Mutsumi was wearing a green floral dress in a pattern that matched her hat, which somehow still rakishly clung to her head. His breath caught in his throat as he realized all over again how beautiful she was. But clearly any chance for a serious moment had passed. He'd messed things up again with his clumsiness.

Motoko found Keitaro's hand, and pulled him up from the ground. Their group was still making it hard for others coming up the escalators to get by. Realizing this, they moved to an open space away from the busy through fares.

"Welcome back!" said Keitaro to Mutsumi, who was making one of her endearing close-eyed smiles.

"Thank you so much!" she responded enthusiastically.

**  
Chapter Twenty-Six: Surprises Inside**

Mutsumi still clung to her one, small watermelon.

Sara then asked her, "Mutsumi, is that all the luggage you brought with you, that one watermelon?"

"What? My luggage?" Mutsumi wore her puzzled face. "Oh, yes, this is all I have."

The mouths of everyone else dropped in surprise.

"No wait!" she continued. "Silly me, no, there's more. I still have to get my baggage from the baggage carousel. But all those bags contain nothing but more watermelons!"

Everyone's mouths dropped a little more.

_What a crazy, amazing woman,_ thought Keitaro.

"Speaking of watermelons," said Mutsumi, "I have a very special gift for you, Urashima-kun. I wanted to give it to you in person as soon as we'd meet today." She handed him the small and undistinguished looking watermelon. She looked at him with great excitement and anticipation in her eyes.

"Uhhh... Thanks," he replied. He held the watermelon on top of his gift box for her he was still holding, and stared at it dumbly, trying to figure out what made this watermelon different from any other.

"Oh! Forgetful me!" smiled Mutsumi. "You must be wondering what's special about that watermelon. It's not special on the outside, it's special on the inside! That's why I had to carry it separately. Go ahead and open it up!"

Keitaro continued to stare at the watermelon like he expected it to do something, and finally managed to ask, "Does anyone here have a knife?"

All eyes naturally turned towards Motoko. She was dressed only in ordinary street clothes, but much to everyone's surprise, including seemingly her own, she already had a long knife held in her hands in front of her, as if in offering.

_How and why did she get that knife past airport security?_ wondered Keitaro briefly. It was as if she had a way to make bladed weapons materialize out of thin air whenever she needed them.

Mutsumi gratefully took the knife from Motoko, then the watermelon from Keitaro, and began cutting. She made a shallow cut completely around the circumference of the watermelon. Everyone eagerly waited to see what was inside.

She handed the watermelon to Keitaro. He then pulled the two new halves apart. Inside was the same fleshy red pulp found in any watermelon, but in the middle there was a red box. He handed off the watermelon (to the always starving Suu, who immediately began gobbling at it), and lifted up the box. Keitaro opened the box, and inside, amidst all the packing material, was a small 35mm camera. He pulled it out and held it up in wonder.

"Thank you so much, Mutsumi-san! This is such a nice and thoughtful gift! And the packaging! How on earth did you get the box inside the watermelon? It's like putting one of those ships inside of a bottle, but even more impossible!"

"Ancient Okinawa secret. I'm afraid I can't tell!"

Mutsumi's smile was very contagious. She was very pleased her gift had gone over well, and everyone else was as amazed as Keitaro to find a box inside an uncut watermelon.

"Now it's your turn to give a present," Mutsumi said while pointing at the box in Keitaro's hands. "What's that?"

Keitaro suddenly felt bashful. "Oh this? Sorry, I feel bad, 'cos it's not nearly as nice as your gift. Yours must have cost more, and certainly my packaging is so ordinary! But I tried to think of something you didn't have that you really needed..." He handed her the box.

She tore the wrapping paper open, and inside was a beautiful and expensive photo album. "It's wonderful! Just what I needed!" She gave him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. Keitaro blushed, and marveled at how good her body felt on his.

Mutsumi looked at her gift again, and said, "Wait a minute. I gave you a camera, and you gave me a photo album. How perfect is that? We can take pictures with your camera, and put them in my photo album!" She gave him another hug.

Everyone seemed pleased as can be with the remarkably matching gifts, except for a rather stone-faced Motoko, who appeared preoccupied with cleaning the watermelon juices off of her knife.

Mitsune thought about Mutsumi and Keitaro_ Can anyone explain those two?_ _They're just too weirdly perfect for each other. How can Motoko or I compete against that?_

---

Those weren't the only gifts given that day. The other notable gift was given when everyone reached Mutsumi's bags at the baggage carousel. Mutsumi had a couple of duffel bags waiting for her, and sure enough, the others peeked inside and saw nothing but watermelons.

"Actually, I do have a couple of other things with me beside watermelons," said Mutsumi. "Here comes one now." Coming down the carousel was a container with caged sides, specifically designed to hold pets.

She grabbed it as it came by, and opened it up. "This is a gift for Tama-chan specifically, and everyone at the Hinata Inn generally. I thought Tama might be getting lonely."

Another turtle just like Tama-chan flew out of the container and began soaring through the air around them.

"His name is Taro," added Mutsumi. "I named him that because he looks cute, just like his namesake, Keitaro," she said with a wink. "I thought Tama could use a mate."

Keitaro blushed. "You may be too late," he said. "It looks like Tama-chan has already found one. She and Mecha-Tama have been inseparable lately." Tama and Mecha-Tama were still side-by-side, seemingly paying little attention to Taro.

Suu piped up, "Yeah, but since Mecha-Tama is mechanical, they can't have babies. With Tama and Taro, they can! Soon we'll have baby turtles everywhere. And then we fatten them up, and... turtle soup every night!" Suu was literally drooling at the prospect.

"What a nightmare," said Motoko out loud, without thinking. Everyone turned her way. "Sorry!" she added, in sudden embarrassment. "I don't mean to belittle your thoughtful gift, Mutsumi-san. But there's just... too many turtles!" She drew back in horror as Taro-chan happened to fly near her.

"I'm sorry, Motoko-chan," smiled Mutsumi. "I forgot about your feelings for turtles. I'll make it up to you somehow."

But at that moment, Motoko wasn't thinking just of turtles. With the attention off of her, she continued to think, _What a nightmare is right! Unlucky day, for me. Keitaro and Mutsumi acting like two peas in a pod, their perfect gifts for each other, Mutsumi looking so beautiful, turtles breeding and flying everywhere... I'm never going to win Keitaro's heart!_

The conversation amongst the others continued, and only served to rub in Motoko's feelings.

Keitaro said, "Suu, I'm not saying that we'd let you eat baby turtles, because we won't. But before you get your baby factory up and running, you'll have to get Taro-chan to fall in love with Tama-chan, and that doesn't look likely."

"No problem!" Suu proclaimed. "Operation: Turtle Love is now commencing!"

Mitsune couldn't resist making a joke. She looked straight at Keitaro and said with a bemused but pained facial expression, "One overly active flying turtle* with too many suitors, all trying to fall in love. Whose situation around here does that remind me of?"

_Ouch,_ thought Motoko. _That hits too close to home._

* Note: The girls have used "flying turtle" as a nickname for Keitaro's privates.

**  
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Gym Teacher and Barfly**

Mutsumi placed most of her things (basically, her giant collection of watermelons) in her room. She was continuing to live across the street from the Hinata Inn, in a room above Haruka's tea house, and one floor above from the room where Haruka was living.

Mutsumi then went over to the Hinata Inn for dinner, and soon after dinner everyone took part in a great big party to celebrate her arrival. Mutsumi liked drinking alcohol almost as much as she liked watermelons, so she and most everyone else began getting rip-roaring drunk. Everyone had lots to drink; that is, except for Mitsune.

The problem was, Motoko absolutely refused to allow Mitsune to drink a single drop of alcohol, and she watched her like a hawk.

Nothing Mitsune could say or do would change Motoko's mind. "Motoko, you already made me run ten kilometers today, and every day for the past five days! My body is crying surrender. You've taken every single bottle containing alcohol from my room, and put them in yours." Mitsune added in an aside within her own thoughts, _And the ones that you've missed I've been drinking up, and now I really am all out!_

"Come on!" she begged Motoko. "Just one glass of sake. It's a special occasion! Just this once!"

Everyone around joined in egging Motoko on. "Come on, Motoko!" "Just one glass," they said.

Motoko sternly replied, "Sorry, but you know my answer. It's for her own good!" There was a big collective groan.

"Well, if that's the way you're going to be," said Mitsune, "I'm going to go to bed. Better that then sit around and watch everyone drink when I can't."

The others encouraged Mitsune to stay, saying things like: "Oh come on!" "Don't be a spoilsport!" "It's only 9:00; you've never gone to bed that early in your life!" But she walked off.

Back in her room, she said to herself in a frustrated grumble, _So mean! She's so heartless! But I'm not going to take this lying down. With all of them busy having fun, no one will notice if I slip off to a bar and have just one drink!_

That's exactly what she did. Down at her favorite nearby bar, she did have her one drink. But then it occurred to her that she couldn't go back like that, feeling tipsy and with alcohol on her breath. _If Motoko finds me out, I'll be in big trouble. I'd better sit here and wait until the effects of the drink wear off, first._

But there was no one around her to talk to, and nothing to do, so to relieve her boredom she had another drink. That meant she had to wait that one out too, which meant waiting a really long time, and of course she couldn't wait that long without having another. And another.

A couple hours later, who should walk into the bar but Motoko. Mitsune was totally plastered.

Mitsune took one look at Motoko pushing her way towards her like some kind of relentless bounty hunter, and said, "Ooooohhhh shit!" She took a look at the nearly full glass in front of her, and finished it off in one gulp while thinking, _Gotta destroy the evidence!_

Motoko stood next to her, arms folded, and said, "Mitsune-san! I'm very disappointed in you! Not terribly surprised, but still disappointed!"

"How did you know I was here? Aaah, never mind. I was stupid. I should have picked a different bar. I guess I should ask, what's my punishment going to be?" She used her arms, propped up on the counter, to keep her head from sliding down into the same.

"First off, I'm going to take you back. Secondly, your terms of running and no drinking will be extended another month. Any more violations, and I'll extend it even further!"

"Motoko! You sound like a high-school gym coach or something! You should be a gym coach, did you know that? Can't you be mean, I mean, can't you be kind? What's the deal anyways? Since when did you become such a stern taskmaster?" She rubbed her hands roughly into her own face, in an attempt to revive more consciousness into it.

"Since I started looking after you." said Motoko "I feel it's my duty, for some stupid reason. Come on, let's go," Motoko got up as if to leave.

"What's the hurry? You got me, already. Here, have a seat." Mitsune attempted, and mostly succeeded, to pat the seat of the barstool next to her.

"Come on, take a load off," she continued. "Here, let's have a drink. Oops! Or maybe don't have a drink. Although I can see you've been drinking some at the Hinata Inn, you meanie. If there's anyone I can talk to about this, it's you."

Motoko reluctantly took the seat.

Mitsune went on: "It's not just the alcohol ban that made me want to come here tonight. I mean, come on. You were there too. You saw them too. Keitaro and Mutsumi, carrying on and having fun up there, like she hadn't been away a day. You expect me to sit there and see those two together, and see everyone drinking, without being able to drink a bit and dull my senses to it all? I mean, what do you think? I don't know why, but I'd rather see him end up with you, than her. She's just so... I don't know. But she's so..." Mitsune leaned towards Motoko to make a point, and found herself falling towards her.

Motoko had to brace her up and push her back into her seat. "Come on, Mitsune, time to get you home. As for what I think, I like Mutsumi. I don't want to be her enemy. I don't want to get jealous about her, and I'm not going to get jealous about her if I can help it. That won't help me. My problem is when I become victim of my petty emotions and lose control. Sure, I'm frustrated, but I'm not a quitter. It looks to me like you're quitting."

"I wish I could be strong like you," said Mitsune in a very tiny voice.

"We're going to make you strong, Mitsune-san. The running and the drinking ban, for instance. Strength comes through discipline and practice."

"Alright, you're right. You're always right. Not like some floozy barfly like me." Sigh "Let's get back there already. The more we talk here, the more Keitaro and Mutsumi are up there together doing who-knows-what without proper supervision. I'm going to bed, for real this time. You gotta keep an eye on those two. You're good at that. She's liable to up and kiss him at any moment, and he's only too happy to kiss back. Believe me! I know that one for sure, ha-ha." She laughed sadly.

Motoko paid Mitsune's bill, and held her up as they walked back. Motoko wanted to say something encouraging, especially to counter Mitsune's despairing "floozy barfly" comment, but Motoko didn't know what to say in these kind of situations. She got Mitsune to bed eventually, and went back to join to party.

**  
Chapter Twenty-Eight: He Tries to Explain**

It was noon the next day, and Keitaro was fretting. Everyone was packing and loading up the car they would all be using to make the several-hour drive to the beach. But since Mutsumi had arrived about 24 hours earlier, Keitaro still hadn't had the guts to talk to her one and one, and explain what had happened between him and both Mitsune and Motoko. _Everything has gone well so far -  we had a really good time at the party - but that's only because I haven't told her anything yet!  She may not want to go to the beach at all, if she knows. I have to screw up my courage and tell her now, before we leave!_

Mutsumi had been shopping in town (and in fact her purchases included a stylish dress for Motoko, to make up for her turtle gift of the day before). Keitaro waited outside the Hinata Inn and finally saw her coming back. "Mutsumi!" he yelled, and chased her down. They stopped to talk in a garden near the road leading up towards Haruka's teahouse. 

"Mutsumi, do you have a minute?" he asked rather breathlessly.

"Of course, Urashima-kun! What is it?" She put down her bags. She wore a shawl and hat to cover up on a windy day.

"Um, I don't know how to say this, but I feel like I have to say this to you, before this trip... I guess I'll just launch straight in... You know that, at the start of summer, Narusegawa and I had a falling out. I told her that I had feelings for her, romantic feelings, but that last night she was here, she told me that she wanted to be just friends, and nothing more. I haven't spoken to her since, and I don't know what's going to happen with her in the future, but I was pretty crushed." His head hung down.

Mutsumi reached out and held his shoulder consolingly. "I'm so sorry, Keitaro."

"Yeah, it's just that, well, the last couple of months were pretty rough, and I finally think I'm over my romantic feelings for her. And you and I were very close to dating even before then, and it would make sense if we started dating now."

Mutsumi brought her hands together over her chest, as if in prayerful expectation. "I would like that very much!" she said enthusiastically.

"So would I, so would I." Keitaro still held his head down sadly, in a manner totally inappropriate for someone about to ask someone out on a date. "But you see... The thing is... While you were in Okinawa, some ... things ... happened. I started to grow closer to everyone here, and doing lots of things with them as they helped cheer me up. I especially grew close to Motoko-chan. She told me she had feelings for me, and then we kissed - Just once, briefly! But we've kissed, rather intimately."

Keitaro finally turned his face up and look at Mutsumi. She now had a very troubled look on her face.

"So I have feelings for her. And it goes back to when I almost was forced to marry her. But! I also have feelings for you! Motoko and I are not going out. We've just recognized that we have feelings. And... and... it's not fair, for me to go out with her, when I turned you away, and never really gave you a chance. So right now, I'm very confused, but I want to make up for that. Would you still be interested, in going out with me?"

Mutsumi looked unusually serious for a second, and then put on her smiling face. "Of course, Keitaro! I've tried hard to get you before, and I'm not going to stop now." She put her hand to her mouth, and gave an expression as if she'd just lost or forgot about something. "But the one thing I don't understand, is why does this always happen to me? First Naru-chan, and now Motoko-chan. Am I always fated to be 'the other woman?'"

"No! No! No!" cried Keitaro, gesticulating wildly. "It's not like that! You're not 'the other woman'! You're not second place in my heart. Even before, with Narusegawa, I admit my feelings for her were strong, but that's because I knew her so much better than you. Do you remember when I couldn't choose between letting go of her hands or yours?"

Mutsumi flicked her wrist at Keitaro in a "that's okay" gesture, smiled, and said, "I understand how it is. I should have known something like this would happen. I could guess that some of the others had feelings for you. But as long you still have feelings for me, and are willing to give me a chance, I'm happy."

They grabbed each other's hands, and smiled.

"In fact," continued Mutsumi, "this isn't a surprise for me. I already knew you and Motoko-chan had kissed. In fact, that's why I came back early, to make sure I wouldn't lose you."

"Whaaaat? You knew already? You sure haven't let on! How could you, who told you?"

"I spoke to Tama-chan. She told me everything."

Keitaro was blown away. "Tama-chan? The turtle? You spoke to the turtle? A turtle talked to you on the telephone? How it is that you can speak turtle?"

"Don't be silly, speaking turtle!" replied Mutsumi. "The truth is, one of the other residents told me, though I probably shouldn't say who."

"So. You knew, and you still came back," said Keitaro with a pondering expression. "That means you must already know about the other thing I was going to tell you, about Mitsune. And that doesn't bother you?!?"

"What? What thing with Mitsune?"

"You know, that I had sex with her?"

Mutsumi stood in shock, her mouth hanging open.  She placed her hand over her mouth, "Tama-chan didn't say anything about THAT!"

Keitaro thought for a brief second, _Tama-chan? Does she talk turtle after all? And why did I just blurt that out? _Then he yelled, "It was an accident! I'm sorry! Mutsumi!" Again, he flapped his arms in agitation, flapping so quickly that it looked as if he was trying to fly off.

Mutsumi had already begun running across the street, towards her apartment. While running, she called over her shoulder, "I have to pack! I'll see you later!"

Keitaro began running after her. "Mutsumi! I can explain!" But then something made him stop in the middle of street (luckily free of cars) and turn around. _Her bags! She left her bags on the curb._ He went back to fetch them. 

By the time he had Mutsumi's bags in hand, he realized there was no way to catch up with her. _She must be in her room by now._ _Oh man, you really screwed it up this time._ He held the bags and tried to figure out what to do. 

_She's going to hate me now, for sure... She did say though that's she's packing, so hopefully she's still going on the trip, at least. I'll have to say something or do something to make it up to her. Do something, I guess. I wonder what it could be..._

_"It was an accident," I said. That's not really true. It's not like we both fell down the stairs or something. And the aphrodisiac doesn't really hold water, because we've made love a second time. I did that completely knowingly, and probably would again. I must be a really twisted... evil... perverted... Arrggh! _He shuddered, as if he could shake off all of his base desires.

_Alright, first things first. Can't just stand here like an idiot. I have to go give her these bags so she actually can pack, and we can all leave. We're starting to run late. Then I have to explain things to her better, and be honest. Everything will be okay. I hope!_

**  
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Not Really Honest**

Keitaro knocked on Mutsumi's door. "Mutsumi? I'd like to explain things some more, and I have your shopping bags, too. Can I come in?"

"Sure, just a minute!"

Keitaro waited a very long minute, or minutes. When she finally opened the door, there stood the usual smiling Mutsumi, only slightly subdued. _I wonder if she had been crying, but hides it well_, thought Keitaro.

"Mutsumi, I feel so bad, can I please explain?" Her face grew more serious, and she gave a slight nod. He put the bags down on the floor, and they both sat around Mutsumi's table. "I don't know what it is, maybe the fact that I'm the only guy in a building full of women. But somehow it seems like most of the Hinata Inn women have a crush on me, or at least that's what Mitsune says. I guess since Narusegawa left, those feelings started showing up more openly, and everyone began acting weirdly. I've been acting weirdly, too."

"The thing is, Mitsune is very beautiful, and she's very flirtatious. She's half-jokingly tried to seduce me before, many times actually, but nothing ever happened. But since Narusegawa left, there was nothing to stop her this time. I don't ... LOVE her, I'm not IN love with her, and I don't think she's in love with me. I don't want to be her boyfriend. I've told her all that, too! But she doesn't seem to mind. She just wants to have sex with me for some reason, and when that happened, I just had to say yes. Maybe everyone is right, and I'm some kind of weird sexual pervert or something." He hung his head, again.

He went on, picking up his head with a new burst of emotion. "But that's not what I want, just sex. I want a real girlfriend. I want someone to love, and someone who loves me. Mitsune doesn't matter with that."

Mutsumi smiled at him wanly, and said, "I understand how it is. I should have never left you alone with so many beautiful women all summer! But tell me, would you sleep with her again in the future?"

Keitaro nervously held his glasses with one hand, and scratched his hair with the other. He paused. "Yes, it's true. If I found myself in a situation where my hormones could take over, then they're going to take over. She has me wrapped around her finger, I guess. And I'm not the same person when you left. All these years of no love, no girlfriend... I'm going off with crazy enthusiasm in the other direction!"

"I don't really mind about the sex," responded Mutsumi. She seemed very serious now. "I think physical love and togetherness is a beautiful thing. And I'll just have to make sure you and Mitsune don't get in the wrong situation. I think I know of a certain swordswoman who would be willing to help me with that!" She smiled again at that, but very briefly. "I'm just afraid that I'm going to lose you again. I would be so sad if that were to happen, but I feel like I'm always fated to lose out."

"You're not! You really are not!" said Keitaro firmly. "My feelings for you are strong. I feel so comfortable around you! I feel like we have a special bond!"

"I feel it too. I'm just happy to be near you." She turned her head down, and it looked like she was trying to stifle the urge to cry. "And that's why what you say makes me ... makes me so sad." She was losing the attempt to not cry, and tears began to roll down her face.

"The thing is," she continued, now crying with abandon, "I'm not lucky in things like this. I never have been. People say I'm good looking, and nice, but I've never really found someone I could love." sob "I just know..." sob "I just know... Between Motoko and Mitsune... I'm going to lose again!" sob

Keitaro tentatively put his hands on her shoulders, and then, finally, embraced her. They hugged tightly, as she continued to cry.

Finally, she pulled back a bit while remaining in his arms, so she could look at him in the face. "I'm so sorry, Urashima-kun. I didn't want you to see me cry." She was no longer sobbing, but tears still rolled from her eyes.

Keitaro gazed intently into her face. He'd never seen Mutsumi cry before, or even really imagined her sad. Her face, with her big brown eyes looking sad like a lost puppy dog and tears rolling down her cheeks, was more than he could bear. He felt like he had to say something, anything, to make her feel better, and put a smile back on her face.

"Mutsumi, please! What can I say? You mean so much to me. What I said before, about wanting a real girlfriend, I want it to be you! I want you, Mutsumi. If you'll have me..."

"Of course I'll have you, Keitaro!" There was a new excitement in Mutsumi's eyes. She smiled, and squeezed Keitaro again.

"But what about... What about the others?" she asked.

Keitaro scratched his head and tried to think. He felt like his brain couldn't really function, that he was acting and speaking impulsively, and not thinking things through. _What am I saying here?!? I'm really getting myself in hot water. I'm agreeing to go out with Mutsumi, but that will spell disaster, especially with Motoko. She'll never want to talk to me again! What can I say? How can I make everyone happy?_

"Mutsumi, this is all happening so fast. All of this has happened in the last few days. It would be great if we could become a couple, now, but I have to work some things out, first. Motoko's feelings would be very hurt if I just walked out of here and said I was going out with you. I need... I need to figure this out. I need some time to just absorb this, and work everything out, so no one will be hurt."

"But what if Motoko won't take no for an answer?" pressed Mutsumi, now looking very concerned. "What if she tries to kiss you again? And what about Mitsune? We're going to be at the beach - all kinds of things could happen. You've said you lack control to resist their advances!"

"That's true. I've really been messing up. During this beach trip, we're all going to be close to each other, and we're supposed to have fun. It would be better if you and I just wait until the trip is over. I'll just be completely pure, and stay totally clear of all romance and kissing for the next week. You and I will have time, plenty of time, when the trip is over. So much time! We'll be studying together, taking classes together, doing all kinds of things together. Let's not rush things, please? Nothing will happen between either of those two and me, in the meantime."

"Okay," she said, growing increasingly happy, but still worried. "I've waited this long, I can wait a little longer. But I'm still concerned. I can't be around you all the time. And I can tell your feelings are still very conflicted. I know you have feelings for both of them."

He replied, "To keep everyone happy during this trip, I can't be with you all of the time, or even most of the time. But..." he said with increasing determination, "I will do all I can to be strong, and avoid temptation! Is that okay?"

"Yes. Very okay." Mutsumi smiled, finally. She almost seemed her old self again. "But I want you to make me a promise. When we get back to Tokyo, you and I will start to date. And not like before, where we were followed, and interrupted, and never given a chance. This time, we will have a real chance."

"Yes! A real chance," Keitaro agreed enthusiastically. His feelings for Motoko and Mitsune were far off and out of focus, at the moment.

"At the beach, we'll all behave, and put romance out of our minds. You'll talk to Mitsune and Motoko about this, yes?"

"Of course."

"I feel a lot better. I'm so sorry to have cried. It's just the thought of losing you, again." She began to grow sad, but a new idea perked her up. "Since we're not at the beach yet, and the others have kissed you and I haven't, don't you think it's only fair that we even things up?" she asked coyly. "Let's seal our promise with a kiss!"

Keitaro suddenly realized that Mutsumi's wide-eyed face was extremely near his own, and getting steadily nearer. "I've been wanting to do this since I saw you at the airport!" she said at the last second. Their mouths touched, and then openly parted into a languid kiss.

When the kiss ended, Keitaro seemed suddenly shy and nervous. Things were nagging in the back of his mind, and he wanted to get away. "Mutsumi, enough about us. We shouldn't be so selfish. Everyone must be waiting in the car already! I'll go tell them that you'll be along."

"Okay. I'll be fast." She blew him a kiss.

Keitaro walked out the door, and started walking back to the Hinata Inn. He was in a kind of love fog, intoxicated by the presence of Mutsumi and her strong feelings for him. By the time he stepped outside, the fog in his head started to clear, and he began to realize what he had just done. Suddenly, it all came to him, and hit him like a truck. He slouched against the wall of Haruka's teahouse.

_Oh no! I've completely committed myself! I've made a promise, a promise I'm completely unready to make! I still don't know what I want!_

_Yes, when I said those things, I meant them. I DO love Mutsumi._ He began pacing back and forth. _The way she looked at me, her sad eyes, I would have promised her anything! I'm such a romantic fool, I probably would have promised to marry her! But if I had the same conversation, except it was Motoko in her place, I would have said the same things! I feel it deep in my heart; I'm not trying to trick Mutsumi, but I wasn't completely honest. What did I say to myself before I went in there? "I have to be honest."_ He pounded his fist into his hand to emphasize his point. _If Mitsune creeps into my bed, even tonight, would I have the willpower to turn her away?_

_One way or another, this is going to end bad. Very bad. If I keep my promise to Mutsumi, I'm going to break not only Motoko's heart, but also probably Mitsune's. It IS only right that I give Mutsumi a chance, but when I think about Motoko, that's all I can think about. But then when I think about Mutsumi, that's all I can think about, too! I'm really going to hurt somebody, no matter what. There has to be some other way. I can't let Mutsumi make my choice for me, because I didn't want to see her cry and lost my head._ He continued to pace, and pound his fist, and get more and more panicky.

_And I'm not even thinking about Narusegawa! I've put her out of my mind lately with so much happening, but I still probably have deeper feelings for her than anyone. What if she comes back and says "I was wrong, I don't want to be just friends?" What would I do? If I agreed to that, that would be too cruel to Mutsumi, to lose to Narusegawa again!_

_I'll just have to never see Narusegawa again! I can't face her. I can't face any of this, at all. I just want everyone to be happy. I want this to be over. I want to make the right choice, and have everything in harmony again._

The energy drained out of him, and he leaned against the wall again. _Ugggghh... That's not going to happen. If only Narusegawa HAD wanted to be my girlfriend, everyone would have accepted that. All this wouldn't have happened. I never would have even known..._

Just then, Mutsumi walked out of the door of her building, and saw Keitaro leaning against the wall next to the door. "Urashima-kun!" she said in surprise.

"Mutsumi! Uh, hi! Let me help you with your bags, there. I was just waiting here for you. They still don't know we're coming. Let's go catch up."

...

Mutsumi and Keitaro hurried towards the Hinata Inn. "Where have you guys been?" shouted Mitsune as they came closer.

"Are you all ready to go? We were just about to leave without you," said Haruka, sitting in the driver's seat. Everyone else quickly found their seats.

"If you leave without me, then who will you get to play Luke Skywalker?" said Keitaro with a somewhat self-mocking puffed up chest.

"Don't think you're the only candidate," replied Haruka out of the side of her mouth that wasn't holding up a cigarette. "I've invited a few other surprise guests. But if you two kept dawdling around, then we would have lost our Princess Leia." she said with a grin and a sidelong glance at Mutsumi.

"Me? Princes Leia?" said Mutsumi. "You're doing a play again this year, of Star Wars? Oh my! Doesn't she and Luke kiss a couple of times in that?" she asked innocently with her hand to her mouth.

"You?" said Mitsune in surprise, already sitting in the back seat of the car. "I think my hair color is much closer to hers. Much closer! I'm a good damsel in distress, too!" she said as she faked a swoon.

Motoko, sitting with her arms crossed next to Mitsune and acting disinterested, said, "I have no desire for a starring role in your play, but since Leia defends herself with a light saber on occasion, I think you have to have someone with sword-fighting skills to play her."

"Forgive me for being impertinent, Motoko-sempai," responded Shinobu quietly, "But isn't Princess Leia rather short? Don't you think we need to find someone much shorter for the role?"

"You wouldn't be thinking about yourself, now, would you Shinobu?" asked Mitsune.

"No! It's not like that!" Shinobu's face turned red.

"Anyways," said Mitsune, "I'm good runner now, and we need someone like that for all of Leia's running scenes."

"You've been running for less than a WEEK!" responded Motoko. "We need a Princess Leia who's really in shape!"

Haruka started the car, and began to drive off. The argument over who should play what character (and not just Princess Leia) continued and grew more heated, and in fact lasted the whole way to beach without resolution. The car was practically exploding with bags, supplies, missiles, giant mecha-turtles, and other contraptions made by Suu. Even more were strapped on the top, back and even sides. The people were all crammed in like sardines, but everyone had a great time on the journey.


	6. Part 6

**The Kiss That Never Was, Part Six**

**Chapter Thirty: The Four-Eyed Threesome**

The car pulled up near the Hinata teahouse, and everyone jumped out. Suu, Shinobu, Mitsune, and Mutsumi immediately ran towards the changing rooms so they could swim, while the more restrained Motoko merely walked. Keitaro stayed behind with Haruka and they unloaded the car together. He stayed behind because he was slightly moody, and worried about how the beach trip would go.

He brought a bag into the teahouse and took a look around. The teahouse looked exactly the same as last year. He took a look into the dining area, and saw a packed crowd of late afternoon customers. In fact, the only difference was that the teahouse staff now appeared to be composed mostly of large burly men, who almost looked like Mafia. _Haruka sure does know some odd people,_ he mused.

On his next load back to the teahouse, he dropped his heavy bag halfway back there and scanned the beach. It was full of people, and everyone looked very happy, playful, and ... naked. Nearly naked, anyways. _I forgot about the bathing suits! This week is going to be very hard. Er, uh, I mean long! Ah! No, difficult. That's it, difficult._

_Okay. Willpower. I have to behave like a monk the whole week. No impure thoughts. Even though I can see Mutsumi right now in front of me, running into the water and jumping up and down, I am NOT going to think about her big breasts! Not at all! And I am not going to notice that Motoko is wearing a surprisingly small two-piece, bright red bathing suit. She certainly didn't wear that one last year! I'm hardly going to notice that, anyways. My thoughts are pure!_

_Geez, even Shinobu has grown a lot in the last year!_

_Okay, I just wiped that thought out of my mind. ... Mostly. ... Oh, there goes Mitsune!_

_New plan: I'm not going to look at the beach; I'm not going to look at anybody. Especially women in bathing suits! I'm just going to move heavy bags. Suffering is good. It builds character!_

He picked up his bag and began moving it again. He continued to think_. I said to myself a few days ago that I would make my choice between Motoko and Mutsumi before I came to the beach. I sure blew that idea! I was barely even able to have a talk with Mutsumi at all, and Motoko must think I've been ignoring her ever since Mutsumi arrived. This is going to get ugly!_

A few trips later, Keitaro decided to take a break, and walked into the teahouse to get a cool drink. Glass in hand, he sat down and took a closer look around him. _Those two bespectacled guys in the front of the teahouse, looking over the balcony towards the beach with their binoculars, could they be...? Yes they are!_

He got up and walked over to them. "Shirai and Haitani! It's me, Keitaro! How are you doing?"

His two former prep school friends had great difficulty pulling their eyes from the beach. "Huh?" said Shirai. "Oh, it's you, Keitaro! How you doin'?"

"What are you guys doing here?" asked Keitaro.

"Oh, you didn't know?" said Haitani. "Haruka invited us here. She said we did well enough in the play last year, and that she wanted us in the play this year too, as long as we behaved like proper gentlemen during our stay."

"Oh, is that so?" smiled Keitaro. "Then why are you gawking at all the Hinata girls, and with binoculars no less?"

Shirai replied, "We figured we should get in as much prime gawking time as possible, from a safe distance, before they realize we're here and start punching us."

"Yeah, seventh heaven, my friend," said Haitani. "Little Haitani is very happy right now. You should try it." He looked into his binoculars again, and scanned the beach. "The only problem is that I don't see Haruka out there."

Thwack! Shirai hit him with the other binoculars. "What is with you and that old broad? Don't you see Mutsumi bouncing around out there?"

"You wouldn't understand, man," Haitani said in response. "There's something about a sophisticated woman like her, for a sophisticated guy like me. Keitaro, I'd love to talk, but let's do that later. This is prime ogling time! I don't know how you can stand to be around all these women all the time. It would have overworked my heart a long time ago." He turned back to his binoculars again.

"Yeah, Keitaro," said Shirai. "If you ever need a replacement for your job, you know where to look! How it is with you at the inn these days, anyways? If the Hinata Inn's rockin' don't bother knockin', I'll bet! Heh-heh!"

"It's not like that, you two!" Keitaro blushed. "Actually, I broke up with, uh, what I mean to say is, Narusegawa and I had a falling out. I haven't even spoken to her for two months, so she's not with us now."

Haitani pulled himself away from the binoculars and briefly looked up at Keitaro, who was still standing. "Damn! Another one missing! She was pretty cute, too, in a younger Haruka kind of way."

Shirai thwacked him on the head again. "'Younger Haruka?' How do I knock some sense into this bozo?" he asked Keitaro.

"Actually, we're being selfish," Shirai continued. "Sounds like you're just as hard up as us. They're always punching you - you must not get too many golden opportunities like this. Although it will make Little Shirai sad, I can lend you my binoculars for a few minutes." He held the binoculars towards Keitaro.

"Uh, thanks a lot for the offer, but please, I'd rather not hear any more about either of your guy's 'little friends.'"

He thought about borrowing the binoculars._ Willpower! Must have willpower! Pure thoughts! If they only knew what I was going through, with Motoko, and Mutsumi, AND Mitsune. They would freak out! Speak of the devil, there goes Mitsune now, picking up the beach ball..._ He gazed at the beach longingly.

Shirai interrupted Keitaro's thoughts. "You want 'em or not?" he said, waving the binoculars around. "These are going, going, gone!"

"Sorry guys, maybe some other time. I've got to get back to moving the bags from the car. You two could volunteer to help at any time."

"Okay, thanks," said Shirai, his eyes back on the binoculars again. He kept talking as he ogled. "Maybe tomorrow. We have to have our priorities here. This week is going to rock! Don't worry, we'll help set you up with someone. Tonight we start with Spin the Bottle!"

_Sheesh,_ thought Keitaro, walking away. _I hope I never turn into one of those two!_

**  
Chapter Thirty-One: Shinobu's Dilemma**

Keitaro finished unloading all the bags from the car, and went to find Haruka to tell her he was done. Passing through the kitchen of the teahouse, he didn't find Haruka, but was surprised to find Shinobu there, helping the hired staff with the cooking. "Shinobu!" he said to her. "I thought you were outside just now, playing in the surf. What are you doing in here?"

"Oh, hello Sempai. I'm helping with the cooking." She seemed very unhappy.

"Yes, I can see that. But why? Unlike last summer, we're here on vacation, and there's no need for you to cook anything."

"But... I want to help."

"Shinobu, can I speak to you for a moment outside?" Keitaro didn't want to discuss private matters when there were other kitchen workers within earshot.

Outside on the sand next to the teahouse, he continued, "Shinobu, you cook every day back home. This is your vacation. I know you like cooking and all, but really! I order you to stop cooking and have fun on the beach!"

"Yes, Sempai." She didn't sound excited by the idea at all.

"Why don't you and I go do something fun right now? We can go for a walk down the beach, and I'll buy you some ice cream."

"No, no!" she responded, while flapping her arms in agitation. Her facial expression looked like he just asked her to rob a bank.

Keitaro was taken aback. "Shinobu, what's wrong with you? Now that I think about it, you've been pretty upset lately. You were more quiet than usual in the car ride here; you didn't do much at Mutsumi's welcome back party. You even seemed glum after we all saw Star Wars, even though you said you enjoyed the movie."

Shinobu didn't say anything, but looked like she was guilty of something, and looking for an opportunity to escape.

Keitaro went on, "In fact, now that I think about it, you've been behaving strangely ever since the day I told you that Mitsune and I had kissed. Is that what this is all about?"

Her face grew even more distraught, if possible, and she bolted off like a deer, shouting "No!" as she ran. Keitaro immediately took off after her, down the beach.

He didn't have a hard time catching up. She gave up the chase, but still acted like a cornered rat.

"What is it?" Keitaro prodded. He had to put his hand under her chin and lift up her head, because she refused to look at him or talk. Once her head tilted up, he noticed tears on her face.

"Shinobu, I hope you consider me a friend. If you're having an important problem, can't you tell me what it is? If it's something about me, something I've said or done, please let me know, so I can fix it!"

"I do! I do consider you a friend, Sempai!" she replied with a flash of eagerness. "But, I'm ashamed to tell you about my problem. It's actually about ... about something I did on that day."

"Something you did?" Keitaro tried to recall what she did that day. "Was it when you claimed to have an appointment, and made me look all over for you?"

"No," she replied carefully. "Although I'm so sorry to have you have to worry about me then. It was later. I didn't ... want ... something to happen. So I did something to stop it from happening." She appeared very nervous to even say that much.

Keitaro was puzzled. He didn't realize it, but she was cryptically referring to the phone call she made that night to Mutsumi, when she asked her to come back so that a romantic relationship between Keitaro and Motoko wouldn't develop any further. But Keitaro didn't know or think much about why Mutsumi came back earlier than planned, and had no idea about the call.

"Shinobu, I have no idea what you're talking about. But that's okay. Maybe it's not my business. But I want to help you, if I can. Can I just ask you a few basic questions?" She nodded in reply, while wiping away her tears.

"This thing you wanted to stop - did you stop it?"

"Yes, I guess so. But it was very selfish of me."

"Is there something you can do, to make it happen, after all? Maybe you can make up for it in some way? If you undo what you've done, then that could make you feel better."

Shinobu thought for a minute. _I stopped Keitaro from getting together with Motoko! I've hurt both of them! Although Mutsumi is here now, and Keitaro seems very absorbed with her, maybe there's still a chance for Motoko to get together with him. I could do something to help that. But then, I would have to give up my own love for Keitaro, my dream that someday he will want me. Can I do that?_

"Yes, you're right, Sempai. You're so smart. Maybe there is something I can do..." It seemed to Keitaro that she liked the idea, but at the same time was very doubtful about something. "Thank you so much. I feel a lot better now. I'll have a lot of fun this week - don't worry about me!"

"Great!" Keitaro said. "Why don't we go get that ice cream, then? We're halfway there already."

Shinobu again look appalled_. I'm forcing him again to act like my boyfriend, when he doesn't care about me that way! It's not right._ She was deeply torn between the pleasure of doing something fun with him, and feelings of guilt for tricking him with her phone call.

"No, thanks! I need to, uh, think about my problem. Alone. Why don't you go do something with Motoko? Or Mitsumi? I'll be fine now. Thanks for your kind words."

She walked off, away from the teahouse.

_That's strange,_ thought Keitaro. _I hope I didn't say anything to offend her. I thought her problem had something to do with Mitsune and me, but I guess not. I really don't understand what she was talking about at all!_

---

On his way back, Keitaro saw the other Hinata women still playing in the surf. _They look so much more beautiful than everyone else on the beach - like diamonds surrounded by ordinary stones. Everybody seems to be checking them out, on the sly. Which reminds me..._

He walked up to Motoko, standing in the shallow waters, and called out her name. "Motoko-chan?"

"Yes, Keitaro?"

Overwhelmed with her bikini, he partly shielded his eyes with his hand, but still couldn't help looking through the gaps between his fingers. "Do you remember Shirai and Haitani, who were here with us last year?"

"Oh yeah, those two jerks you call your friends?"

He winced a bit at her low opinion of some of the very few people he could call "friend" outside of Hinata Inn. "Yes, that's them. They're here again, to help out with the play. Don't look now, but they're staring at you, Mitsune, and Suu through binoculars from front row seats in the teahouse."

"Thanks. I'll take care of it."

_Not that I can really blame them,_ he considered as he watched Motoko's body sway while she walked away from him and back to the teahouse. Mitsune had bought the bikini for Motoko, and insisted she wear it.

A few minutes later, Keitaro saw two bodies fly far out of the teahouse and land on the sand not far from where he was still standing. _Hmm, thanks to my extensive first-hand experience, and judging from the height and trajectory, that looks like Secret Art: Soaring Dragon. Ah, I know that one well, _he thought, almost as if fondly recalling a particularly fine wine.

**  
Chapter Thirty-Two: About Last Night**

Keitaro woke up the next morning, with his brain pounding. He didn't even know where he was. Everyone was staying at a nice hotel up at the top of a hill overlooking the beach, but this was no hotel.

_I must have really gotten wasted last night. I have a hangover like a... like a really bad hangover. I can't think. Oooh, the worst! What did I do last night? I can't remember a thing!_

With a sudden panic he woke up and looked all around. _Phew! I'm alone! For a second there, I half expected to find Mitsune next to me. That would have be a record pathetic total loss of willpower, even for me!_

He looked around the room he was in. He lay on a futon, but all around him there were lots of boxes, and buckets, mops, cleaning supplies and the like. _Where am I? This looks like a storage room of some kind. With the futon here, it must mean that someone must have put me here. I'll bet I'm still in the teahouse!_

He sat up, and tried to think harder. _So what did I DO last night? Let's see - I remember having a talk with Motoko before dinner, to touch base again. That went well, I thought. I talked to Mitsune too, and firmly explained that we couldn't have sex, that I needed some time.  Talked about the need for a total ban. That went well, too. Then we had a really yummy dinner. After that, Haruka laid out more detailed plans for the play and the script, finally. That went well too... And then after that, what? Oh yeah. We had a party in the teahouse, with a big crowd of people, and drinking. Lots of drinking. And drinking games. Then it becomes a total blank. _He flopped back onto his futon.

_So did I pass out? Or got sick? If I was really drunk, it would have been hard for me to go up the hill to the hotel alone, unless someone had to carry me. That was easily the most I ever drunk, 'cos this never happened to me before! Ah well, live and learn. I can't just lie here, feeling sorry. I'd better go discover what time it is, drink lots of fluids, and find out what everyone is up to._

He put on a towel and opened his door. It opened to a hallway in the back of the teahouse. Down the hallway was a shower used after bathing in the ocean. He decided to head there.

Before he could get near the shower door, Mutsumi came in through another door, wearing a towel and obviously planning on showering too.

She kept on walking and had one hand on the door before she looked over and saw him in surprise. "Good morning, my love! Looks like you slept in, too." She walked over to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She looked fantastic, dripping wet from the ocean, and appeared to be completely fresh and energetic. Keitaro was still too dazed and bleary-eyed to speak.

"We finally did it last night, didn't we?" she said. "I've been so looking forward to doing it with you, and now it's happened. And you were fantastic, too! A real manly performance!" she kissed him again happily. "Would you like to shower together? No? Just teasing you. I'm sure you're in no shape for that, after what we did, you crazy guy! I'll only be a short while." She walked into the shower.

Keitaro just stood there, befuddled. "_We finally did it"? What did we do? "My love"? "A real man"? "Shower together?" What is she talking about? Oh no, I hope she doesn't mean... Oh no! Did we have sex last night?!?_

_That can't be! There's no way that can be. I had sex with Mutsumi, and I can't even remember? Me? With her? No way! I can't shower until she's done, so I'll use the time to find out if anyone knows what happened._

Keitaro shuffled off to the end of the hallway, and opened the door to the outside world. He still wore only a towel. The light was painfully bright. He shielded his eyes and tried in vain to stop the hammer pounding inside his brain.

A happy Sara came running up to him. "Keitaro! Good morning! Enough lazing around for you. Let's go play!" She tugged at his arm.

Keitaro backed off, and leaned up against the wall of teahouse. "Later, Sara. I'm still recovering from last night."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot. You and Mutsumi really went at it last night, didn't you?"

"WHAT?"

"I watched the whole thing, silly. I was really impressed!" Sara smiled happily.

"WHAaaaaa???? You watched the whole thing?" Keitaro turned red.

"I have to go. Now!" he said, and he staggered off towards the beach. _She watched? Sara? That can't be possible. I'll be convicted of corrupting minors, or something! I can't ask Sara any more about this; I have to go find some adult somewhere._

He scanned the beach while still shielding his eyes, looking for a familiar face. _Ah, there's Motoko, sitting with Suu. I'll go talk to her._

"Motoko-chan!"

"Hi, Keitaro-san!"

Motoko looked great in her new bathing suit. It was very conservatively cut, but it was still a bikini. Keitaro on the other hand, looked like something the cat dragged in. Motoko sat with Suu under umbrellas, constructing some detailed thing for the upcoming play. Keitaro sat down next to her.

"Motoko, about last night..."

"Oh, with you and Mutsumi? Don't worry, I'm not jealous. I understand sometimes people have fun doing that kind of thing. I'll even admit I kind of enjoyed watching it all. And congratulations, I guess. Just don't expect to ever do that with me!"

Keitaro got up and staggered off, while Motoko returned to some busy project with her hands. She had hardly even looked at him. He felt like the whole world was crumbling around him_. What did we DO? Did we have sex in public? Does Motoko not care? Is she ignoring me in anger? What's happening?!?_

He looked around, and saw Mitsune lying on a towel some ways away, working on her tan.

"Mitsune! Mitsune!" he yelled, running towards her while now clutching his towel.

She pulled her sunglasses down her nose. "Oh hi, Keitaro! How are you doing? Not well, I'll bet, heh-heh!"

"Mitsune!... Mutsumi! Me! Last night!"

"Oh, you're all worked up about last night, huh? Well, I'll tell you, I'll bet you're thinking you and Mutsumi are hot stuff and make quite the couple, but I'm not impressed. I'll bet you think you and Mutsumi can do it better than I can, but I'd show her a thing or two, if I wasn't under this stupid ban!"

Keitaro fell down onto his knees. Total shock. He was beyond panic now, and into a kind of zoned out acceptance. _The ban! Our ban on having sex! So that means me and Mutsumi really did…_

"So... So you know everything... Everybody knows..."

"Of course! How could we not, when you two did it right there in front of us all? I thought doing it standing up on a table in front of a big crowd like that was a bit much, but you two just wouldn't listen to reason. At first everyone clapped, but you two just went on so long..."

She stopped talking, because Keitaro had completely fainted away.

...

"Keitaro! Keitaro! Wake up!" Mitsune was sitting over him in her bikini. She had splashed some water on his face, apparently. He slowly, and with great horror, regained consciousness.

"Keitaro, next time you faint, make sure to keep your towel on, okay? While I appreciate the free show, try to restrain yourself a bit when you're in a public place!"

Keitaro thought he had reached the utter low of shame, but with her latest words, realized he could still sink a little lower.

He sat up, with new resolve. "Seppuku! Hara-kiri! It's the only way out! The only way to restore some honor to my name!" The thought had never crossed his mind before, but he felt determined.

Keitaro just laughed. "What the heck has gotten into you? I'm sure this is going to be a real good story." She sat back, ready to be amused.

"Last night! Mutsumi and I... Didn't we...?" He paused, and thought. Mitsune, what exactly did she and I do last night? I can't remember a thing!"

Mitsune began laughing again, and even harder. "Ooooohhhh, I can guess now what you're thinking! Such a dirty mind! You and Mutsumi were partners in a drinking game! That's all! A series of games, actually. The two of you drank so much, a fish would have been impressed. I know Mutsumi is quite a drinker, but you really surprised me! Anyways, the two of you won most every challenge. For the final game, you both stood up on the table, and literally drank everyone else under it! I must admit, you were really amazing. If I wasn't under Motoko's stupid drinking ban, I could have provided some real competition, but she still watches me like a hawk. Anyways, after you won, the two of you still stood there and started singing these silly victory songs, which kind of annoyed everyone, but then finally you completely passed out, and crashed into the table behind you. Then you woke up, got sick, and a couple of us had to carry you to bed. We put you in the storage room 'cos no one could carry you up all those stairs to the hotel. A bit clearer now?"

She began laughing again. His changing facial expressions were most amusing.

Keitaro fell flat back onto the ground. His relief at not having to commit seppuku was offset by new feelings of utter idiocy. "Mitsune!" he cried out, for no real reason. He lay still for a bit. _Whoa. I guess that explains everything. For one thing, she meant the DRINKING ban, not the ban with me. Everything that is, except maybe for Mutsumi saying "my love." I guess she was just being her usual, unusually friendly self. I'm such a fool! Seppuku would be too good for me!_

He suddenly sat up again, and used his hands to beg. "Mitsune, please, I beg you, don't tell anyone about my misunderstanding! They would kill me! Everyone thinks I'm an idiot enough as it is. I'll never live this down. Please have mercy!"

"Aawww, this is the best story in the world! Can't I tell just one person?"

"NOOOOOO!" he screamed. "I mean, no! Please!"

"Okay," she said reluctantly. "Since you're so cute there, sitting naked on a public beach..."

Keitaro quickly pulled his towel up again. It was impossible for him to get any more embarrassed.

"However," Mitsune added, "You owe me one, big time."

"Thank you! You saved my life! I do owe you one!" Keitaro stood up, and got ready to walk off. With both hands firmly on his towel this time, he bent down and kissed Mitsune on the top of her head. "Thanks again. At least there's one good thing," he said to her. "All the shock cured my head of the hangover!" She laughed.

**  
Chapter Thirty-Three: Making Plans**

Keitaro went back to bed immediately after his embarrassing misunderstanding. _I've been up for ten minutes today, _he thought, _and the best thing that can happen now today, is that I sleep until tomorrow!_

Keitaro slept through much of the morning, but he wasn't the only person trying to forget his and Mutsumi's antics the night before. Mitsune continued to lie on the beach, working on her tan, but she periodically eyed Motoko, sitting not far off and working on crafts for the play with Suu. Finally Suu left, and Mitsune walked over.

"Motoko-chan, mind if I sit down?"

"Sure," said Motoko. She kept working on her craftwork.

"That was some drinking contest last night, wasn't it? What did you think about how Mutsumi and Keitaro were acting together?"

"Why should I care about that stupid jerk and what he does?" Motoko kept on working, and didn't even lift her head to look at Mitsune.

"Motoko-chan, it's me you're talking to. You don't have to hide your feelings." She stared at Motoko, and finally Motoko looked back in return.

"Remember," Mitsune continued, now that she had Motoko's attention, "I also have feelings for that 'stupid jerk.' There's no hiding that he and Mutsumi have clicked again since she's returned. It's hurting me, too. The question is, are you and I going to just sit here and do nothing about it?"

Motoko finally let down her guard. "What am I supposed to do?" she asked in an agonized voice. "How can I compete? The two of them already have a history and went on dates months ago. She's so funny and happy and smart ... and beautiful ... and nice... I don't know how she stands up without falling over, her breasts are so damn big..." Motoko grumbled.

She paused, and finally blurted out, "How can I complete with all of that? I was an idiot to think I had any chance at all! Maybe I had some chance before she returned, but I didn't act in time, and now... I'm going to have to go through watching him with her all the time, just like he was with Naru, except it will be much worse, now that my feelings are out in the open!"

"Motoko, don't panic. And don't sell yourself short. I'm here to help. I've been having those same thoughts. But you and I are a team, and together we can overcome this. My goal right now is to stop him and Mutsumi from getting together, and that fits in nicely with the deal I've made with you before." Mitsune added in her own thoughts, _For now, that is. If we can overcome Mutsumi, and if I really have a serious chance with him, then it's every woman for herself!_

She continued with Motoko, "Let's put our heads together, and see what we can do. We can start with some more training on what you should do, and how to do it. I don't know about you, but I've got some tricks up my sleeve. I haven't even gotten warmed up yet!"

"You're right, Mitsune! I can't let my doubts overtake me. I remember a couple of days ago, you said to me, 'I wish I could be strong like you.' But who is the strong one, really? I may be strong with a sword, but when it comes to ... this kind of thing, I put all my faith in you."

"Alright," said an upbeat Mitsune, "Let's do it!"

"And we're not going to let you skip running today, either," replied a newly smiling Motoko.

...

Elsewhere on the beach, Shinobu sat alone on the sand, still tormented by the choice of trying to rectify her perceived betrayal of Keitaro by summoning Mutsumi back, or fully committing to going after Keitaro herself.

Meanwhile, Suu also sat alone, but she was busy at work in her room. Easily half or more of all the items brought to the beach were Suu's, and her room was stacked high with boxes containing strange contraptions. "Bwa-ha-ha-ha!" she laughed, in tribune to her favorite mad scientists. "I just finished my latest invention, and now it's ready to go. And tonight is nearly a full moon. Just a few more days. It won't be too long now!" She rubbed her hands together in gleeful anticipation.


	7. Part 7

**The Kiss That Never Was, Part Seven**

**Chapter Thirty-Four: Scheme A Little Scheme**

Keitaro continued to nap through the morning. While he slept, Mitsune gave Motoko more advice on how to win Keitaro. The two lay on towels on the sand. Mitsune sat exposed to the direct sun, working on her tan, while Motoko sat under an umbrella to protect her milky-white complexion.

"Motoko," chided Mitsune, "You have to loosen up. You may be in love with Keitaro, but you don't act like it. You don't flirt, you don't touch him, and you don't speak to him differently than before. In fact, since we've been here at the beach and you haven't been working with him on kendo practice or in a study group, you haven't been talking to him much at all."

"He's always around Mutsumi," bemoaned Motoko. "I can't just go up to them and pull him away. I've tried to think of things to get his attention, but I can't scheme like you can. And I can't just suddenly become a different person in how I react to him, especially since he's not even my boyfriend. I don't know where I stand with him. He's acting like it's Mutsumi who he wants!"

"I know, I know," said Mitsune with a grave frown. "That's why we have to shake things up a little bit. We need to get you two together, so you have a chance. Let me think about this for a minute...."

_My hands are tied_, Mitsune thought_. I've promised Keitaro that I will keep my hands off of him for the rest of the beach trip. So I've got to throw Motoko and him together in dramatic fashion, 'cos right now he's all googly-eyed for Mutsumi. Not only am I supposed to be helping Motoko, but it also helps my goal, if they two of them can divide his attention and prevent the other from going too far with him. But with Motoko's zero flirtation skills, and Mutsumi's considerable charms and easy manner, about the only thing that would work is locking Motoko and Keitaro naked in a room together!_

_Hey, that's not the first time I've had that idea, and it's actually not that crazy. If the two really were naked together, things might get a little heated, but there's no way they would actually have sex. Not at this point, anyways. Motoko is still wrapping her mind around the idea of French kissing, and has too much built- in resistance to let him go far. Whereas Keitaro, for all of his pervertedness, is too much of a gentleman when it comes down to it, and too passive anyways. But if the two could get a little bit more intimate... Right now it's Mutsumi's time, as she's freshly back in his life, but that can fade. I just have to keep playing everyone off against each other until my time comes around._

_So how to get Motoko and him naked together? Ideally it has to be somewhere I can observe from afar. The lack of condoms or other birth control should ensure that things don't get too heavy, but Motoko's a bit unpredictable. She might just throw all caution to the wind in a passionate fever. It's better that I should observe from afar and make sure my plan isn't too successful! Can I put them in a room? Or, better than a room!_

With that last thought, an entire plan suddenly unfolded in her mind. In a matter of seconds, Mitsune had a scheme all laid out. Then she remembered that Motoko was right next to her. "Aha! I think I've figured it out, Motoko-chan. Sorry for keeping you on hold. I have a plan that will get Keitaro kissing you for sure. He'll forget all about Mutsumi! All you have to do is keep an open mind."

"What do I have to do?"

"I think it's best if I don't give you details, but just let it happen naturally, otherwise you'll just get anxious. You'll be anxious enough as it is, believe me. Just keep the simple rules I've given you in mind. Remember, if Keitaro does something quote perverted unquote, let him! That's how things get started. Whatever you do, do not punch him or kick him. No hurting him under any condition - is that understood?"

"Yes," said Motoko in a dull voice, as if she was replying to a heavy-handed teacher.

"Let me hear you say it after me: I vow not to hurt Keitaro under any condition."

"I vow not to hurt Keitaro under any condition."

"Good. Also, do not insult him under any condition. Don't call him an idiot, perverted, dumb, weak, or anything else. You're trying to woo him, so you have to overlook his behavior sometimes. If you really think he's as bad as all those names, then don't try to woo him. But you can't do both."

Motoko rolled her eyes. "Yes mom!"

"Good. I'm going to go now and start checking out if this plan is feasible. I've gotta do some exploring around here. When we get back, we can talk some more about the do's and don't's."

"Not so fast," Motoko chided. "Now it's my turn to be a nag. You're not going anywhere until I observe you do your daily jog!"

**  
Chapter Thirty-Five: Role-Playing**

Keitaro finally woke up from his nap. It was nearly noon, but he still felt out of sorts. He'd been too tired to go all the way back up the hill to their hotel just for a nap, so he'd slept in the same teahouse storage room he'd spent the night in.

As he came to, he once again recalled just what a public, drunken spectacle he and Mutsumi had made of themselves. _If Kitsune told everyone about my misunderstanding, I'm going to… Ah, I don't know what I'm going to do to her, but it'll be mean!_

Keitaro freshened up, took a shower, and made his way to see what everyone else was up to.

As he walked into the main room of the teahouse, full of customers, he heard the cry: "Secret Art: Eternal Moon Beam!" and saw two people go flying over a rail and out onto the sand. Motoko stood there in her usual robes, sword unsheathed and pointing to where she'd just struck a blow.

"Hi, Motoko-chan," Keitaro said. "What was that all about?"

She put her sword away. "Oh, hi Keitaro. That Haitani! Can you believe he actually pinched Haruka on the thigh? The gall!"

"He did? What about Shirai?"

"He was up to no good, too. Ogling the customers. That was more of preemptive strike with him."

Keitaro looked at Haruka, also standing there with cigarette dangling, but she just shrugged in a "what can you do?" gesture. She pointed out, "Motoko, I could have handled the situation myself."

Motoko was still trying to control her anger. She sighed. "Sorry, Haruka. I'll try to be more ladylike. If you'll excuse me…" Motoko wandered off to change into some more alluring, now that Keitaro was finally awake.

Rather deliberately, Keitaro mused out loud, "Haitani pinched Aunt Haruka? What on Earth was he thinking?!?"

Haruka's elbow forcefully slammed into the back of Keitaro's head. She made the adept move without ever moving a muscle on her jaded face. "What's so surprising about that?" she asked him with a challenging tone.

Keitaro rubbed the sore spot on his head and smiled a big, conciliatory smile. "Oh, nothing. Nothing at all."

He looked around to see if there were any other familiar faces. Before he could turn very far, a foot planted itself in his face.

"Good morning, Keitaro!" It was Suu. "Or should I say 'Good afternoon'? It's one o'clock! Let's go play!"

Keitaro noticed that behind Suu stood Sara and Shinobu, waiting expectantly. "Good morning, you two! I mean, uh, afternoon! You two want to play, too?"

Sara run up and started kicking him in the shins, but in a friendly way (for her) that he took for a yes. Shinobu stood back more demurely, with her arms folded in front of her, but she shyly nodded yes. Keitaro was very glad to see that.

"Okay, great! Let me just grab a bite to eat, then we'll go build a sand castle? How does that sound?" One hand rubbed his sore face, another the back of his head, and he hopped about to make the pain from the kicking go away.

----

A short while later, Keitaro headed out to the sand in front of the teahouse with the three girls in tow. He was glad to see that Shirai and Haitani weren't hurt too badly. However, he noticed they fled the teahouse, apparently looking for safer ground to do their women watching.

Keitaro and the girls hadn't made it half way across the beach when Sara cried out, "Papa!" They all followed Sara's eyes, and saw Seta's beat up old van. Remarkably, Seta had managed to safely park it in a parking lot just to the side of the teahouse, and he emerged unbloodied and unscathed.

He waved a friendly hello. Sara bounded up to him and jumped into his arms. But Seta wasn't completely out of the woods: he'd forgotten to set the parking brake. The van was parked on a slope pointing down to the beach, so it rolled forwards and fell over a wall onto the sand before he could react. Seta though took it in stride and climbed down the wall to greet the others.

After more hugs and hellos and hand shakes with Shinobu, Suu, and Keitaro, Keitaro said, "Good to see you! I kind of figured the lure of the play might bring you here, unless you were at a far off dig. Are you the mystery person who's going to be our Darth Vader?"

Seta disengaged from Sara, still tightly clinging to him, and struck a dramatic pose. He whipped out an imaginary light saber and slashed his hands through the air as if cutting with it. "That's right!" In an imitation of Darth Vader's voice, he breathed, "The student has now become the master!"

Keitaro giggled with glee. "Cool! You've heard I'm going to play Luke Skywalker?"

Seta remained in his character. "Luke! Come to the Dark Side! Listen to your father!" He held a hand out towards Keitaro with a beckoning, clenched fist.

Keitaro pumped his fist excitedly. "All right! Now that you're here, we should really get cracking on the play! Everybody, can we do the sand castle later? We really should practice."

There was a big chorus of groans from the girls, but they all went back to the teahouse.

The entire Hinata Inn crowd gathered together, Shirai and Haitani too, and they worked on the play for the rest of the afternoon. Haruka led the proceedings. Her policy was, they would alternate between days working on the play and days just having fun. She also had final say over who played what role.

Keitaro, as expected, was given the part of Luke Skywalker. Mutsumi was chosen to be Princess Leia. Beyond that, decisions were difficult, because there were so many females ready to act and mostly male roles in the story. Haruka chose Motoko to play Han Solo, mostly because of her athletic skills for all the fighting scenes. With her breasts bound up and a wig to hide her long dark hair, she would pass for a man reasonably enough. Seta was originally going to play Darth Vader, but upon further reflection Haruka switched him to Obi Wan Kenobi. She figured she should save the Darth Vader role for a woman, because the face and body would be completely covered. She gave that part to Mitsune. Sara was chosen to play R2-D2, because she was the smallest, and Shinobu was given C3P0.

That left Suu to play Chewbacca. At first glance, it was a bad fit, but it actually worked quite well. Suu was a fraction the size of the massive Chewbacca, but she immediately set to making a costume that placed her body high up in his, so she could speak out of the mouth, and then she made platforms and mechanical extensions so she could control all of Chewbacca's movements from inside. Haruka also noticed how Suu had nearly destroyed the play the year before with her control over her mechanical gizmos. She figured the safest place for Suu to be was inside a giant, furry Wookie outfit, unable to reach any missiles or mechanical turtles.

Shirai and Haitani were male, obviously, but to have given them a choice role like Han Solo would have caused a revolt by the Hinata women. So they were relegated to playing bit roles, mostly imperial storm troopers. Several other staffers at the teahouse were also drawn into playing extras in the battle scenes. Haruka didn't take any role this time, but decided the best thing was that she concentrate fully on running things back stage, to make sure nothing went wrong this year.

So the group worked more on building the set and costumes, and memorizing lines. One flaw was that there weren't enough skilled sword fighters for all the roles involving light saber duels. Haruka could have cast Motoko as Darth Vader, but she was afraid of having Seta and Motoko fight each other when it came to the climactic duel between Obi Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader. Judging from the previous year and they way they fought so intensely against each other in general, that was likely to get out of hand and bring the whole set crashing down. So instead Seta worked with Mitsune to teach her the basics of sword fighting. They would choreograph their moves exactly, blow by blow, so the final battle between their characters would look more impressive than Mitsune's skills actually were. Keitaro meanwhile had luckily been studying kendo for a few weeks now, so he had a head start. But still, Motoko worked with him to improve his skills for the action scenes.

**  
Chapter Thirty-Six: Swords Tomorrow, Watermelons Tonight**

Practicing for the play was lots of fun, and the afternoon and evening just flew by. Keitaro had the most dialogue to learn, so he was in great demand with the other major players to practice their scenes. There was a tug of war between Motoko, wanting to practice Han Solo scenes and their action scenes, and Mutsumi, wanting to practice the Princess Leia scenes. It all too perfectly mirrored the same tug of war going on in his heart.

Seta, it turned out, was a huge Star Wars fan and knew the movie backwards and forwards. So he needed very little practice on his lines, and he needed no fighting practice either. He divided his time between teaching Mitsune how to fight, and working with Sara and the other characters with few lines to construct the set.

Keitaro was impressed with Mutsumi's boundless, upbeat nature. He found out that even though she drank as much or more than him the night before, she seemingly didn't have any hangover at all. She got on with her morning just fine, while he slept hours more in bed. And she was a joy to be with when practicing, always smiling and joking. Whereas Motoko took things very seriously. She practiced her part and her fighting scenes with Keitaro seriously and intently, just as if she was running his kendo practice.

He enjoyed that interaction too, in a different kind of way, but he didn't enjoy the feeling of being split in two. Actually, more than two. As the star of the show, everyone wanted a piece of him. Luckily there weren't really direct scenes between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, or Mitsune would have wanted to practice them endlessly. But he felt torn every which way.

By the end of the evening, although he'd really enjoyed the day, he also looked very much forward to just getting away from it all tomorrow, at least for a few hours. So, at a quiet moment near the end of the day, Motoko came up to him and asked, "I'm thinking of going on a walk tomorrow morning. Would you like to come with me?" Keitaro was in the perfect mood to say yes.

"That sounds good. Where are you thinking of going?"

"I hear there are some ruins to the south of here, near the beach. I understand you can walk along the coast to find them, even though it's a long ways. It could take quite a few hours."

Keitaro considered. _Hmm. Many hours. I'm in big demand around here lately with the play, and that might make some people grumble. On the other hand, it's supposed to be our first off day, and if I'm gone that will help ensure that people actually take it easy and not just work on the play the whole time. And I've been spending a lot of time with Mutsumi and not enough with Motoko. This will help balance things out._

"Okay! That sounds great. Let's do it!"

Motoko was delighted, and secretly very pleased with Mitsune, because this walk idea was entirely hers. Mitsune had everything worked out, and had even created a distraction so she could ask Keitaro to the walk in privacy. (Mutsumi was seemingly always at least within earshot of Keitaro, but Mitsune said in a loud voice, "I could really use a snack right now. I wonder where I could find some watermelon." That captured Mutsumi's attention completely and sent both of them to the kitchen.)

Motoko thought, _Tomorrow Keitaro and I can spend the whole day together, just us two walking down secluded beaches. It'll be so romantic! I'll be able to finally open my heart up to him and talk to him. Maybe even another kiss, if all goes well. Thank you so much Mitsune! Tomorrow is going to be just perfect!_

Knowing that he'd be spending so much time with Motoko the next day, Keitaro felt it would be okay to spend the rest of the evening with Mutsumi.

It was already late when the play practice ended, so everyone walked together up the steep hill to their hotel. Most everyone went to bed straight away, but Keitaro and Mutsumi went to the hotel bar together. The hotel was in a great location, on a cliff about a hundred meters directly above the ocean, and the bar took advantage of this fact. It had an outdoor patio that hung right at the edge of the cliff. Keitaro and Mutsumi took their drinks outside and stood at the railings looking over the water.

They admired the view, dark though it was. The moon was nearly full, so they had a good view of the horizon and the lights of some far off fishing vessels. Mostly they studied the stars in the sky. Keitaro found Mutsumi in his arms without consciously realizing how it happened.

"I really enjoy these kinds of love-love situations with you, Kei-kun," she said with a happy heart.

Keitaro suddenly got nervous, and his heart beat loudly. It occurred to him that was the first time she'd call him the more intimate "Kei-kun." He was also intensely aware of the sensation of her large breasts pressing into his chest, and her fragrant smell so strong and so close. He stammered, "I don't know about this being a love-love situation! Remember what I said about needing more time to sort things out?"

She didn't even break her smile, but just said, "Okay, how about just one kiss then?"

Keitaro didn't even think if that was the right think to do. He just leaned in to kiss. But right as his lips touched hers and their tongues met, both of them spilled their drinks, as they moved their arms into a tighter embrace.

Red wine spilled everywhere. The romantic mood was broken, and Mutsumi had to immediately rush off and clean her clothes.

_That was too close!_ thought Keitaro. _For once, I'm glad I'm so clumsy! I'm just not ready to make up my mind._

**  
Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Shoe Is Not on the Other Foot**

Motoko thought everything would be great for her walk with Keitaro, but what Motoko didn't know was that Mitsune only told her a part of her scheme for the day. Mitsune was literally serious about wanting to put the two of them together naked in a room in order to get them romantic. But with there being no such thing as true privacy amongst the Hinata Inn gang, she needed a remote location. That's when she came up with the idea of putting them on a nude beach. The problem was, there wasn't any nude beach nearby. So she had to make one.

The day before, but after she came up with her scheme, she started to put the wheels in motion. While everyone was busy practicing the play, certain things needed to be purchased for the construction of the set. Mitsune volunteered to drive into town to buy some things, and she did, but she also stopped along the way and quickly explored the beaches to the south of the beach they were on. There was a rugged hiking trail along the coast that wound along many coves, cliffs, and beaches. Because of very steep cliffs between the coastline and the main coastal road, there were only a couple access points for many kilometers, and even those were rarely used because the cliffs were so steep.

The next morning, Mitsune woke very early and walked down the beach with some supplies. The beach the teahouse was on was big and wide, and on a nice summer day like this, it would soon fill with huge crowds of people. But Mitsune didn't care about that. At the southern end of the beach the trailhead started, leading into rocky heights high over the water. She hurriedly followed the trail, and passed several small beaches and coves. Those were too close to the main beach - there was bound to be some spillover of tourist traffic. But then finally, she found a beach remote enough for her needs.

She'd brought some signs to warn people away from this beach, and had painted messages on them the night before. Each sign was attached to a long post. She pounded one of the posts into the ground, and admired her handiwork. _Perfect! It looks just like an official, government sign._ She went to the other side of the long beach and put another sign there. Then she hurried back to the teahouse, so she could be there to make sure Motoko and Keitaro got away on their walk okay. Back where at the southern end of the main beach the coastal road came down close to the water, so she walked back along the road, to reduce the chances of her being seen.

It was a good thing she did too, because the hike to the remote beach and back took longer than expected, and Motoko and Keitaro were leaving right as she returned. She watched in the distance from the road with satisfaction as she saw them leave the teahouse together. _Perfect, again! Now, I'll just have some breakfast, and then I'll get my binoculars and spy on them to make sure things don't get TOO heated! Just enough so the Keitaro-Mutsumi love train gets derailed a bit. Heh-heh! Not to mention, I'll get to see Keitaro outside, completely in the buff. Oooh, this is going to be so good! Maybe I should bring a camera._

Keitaro and Motoko set out with a backpack full of gear. Lots of suntan lotion, an umbrella, snacks, water, lunch, and more - they were ready for a fully day of fun. Keitaro wore nothing but his usual bathing suit, and Motoko wore the same bikini she'd been wearing the past two days.

They hadn't even reached the southern end of the main beach when they came across Mutsumi, carrying a similar backpack. She was walking in the same direction as them but going slower, so they caught up to her.

"Mutsumi!" Keitaro cried out. "Where are you going?"

She turned and looked at them with great surprise. "Oh, hello you two. I'm going off on a great adventure. I heard there are ruins to the south of here, and I'm off to find them!"

"Ruins?" Keitaro exclaimed with surprise. "Why, that's just the spot Motoko-chan and I are headed for! What a coincidence!"

Motoko thought, _Uh-oh. Trouble._

Keitaro said, "Motoko and I were thinking of going off for the day, just the two of us. You know, to get away from the crowd. I'm sure you can understand."

_Phew,_ thought Motoko. _That was a close call._

Keitaro went on, "But since you've going in the same direction, why don't we all go together? Motoko and I can do something just the two of us some other day, right Motoko-chan?"

_Damn!_ Motoko cursed. _Utter disaster!_ But outwardly she forced a smile. "Sure. We'd be happy to have you join us, Mutsumi-san."

Mutsumi brought her hands together before her chest and jumped up and down. "Oh goody! This'll be great!" Keitaro's eyes bounced up and down along with her chest. "What luck!"

Motoko walked along with a fake smile on her face. _Must be gracious. Must be lady-like. Smile. Be happy. Can't let Mutsumi out charm me. Grrr! Why does she have to be wearing a bikini three times more revealing than mine? But I'm smiling! Must … stay … happy! _Her smile was very big, and very obviously forced.

**  
Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Naked Truth**

The three of them followed the same path Mitsune had walked earlier in the morning. They went up and down rocky hills and along cliffs and down through coves. The vegetation to the inland side of the path was very lush; almost jungle-like. After about an hour, they reached a hill that looked over a wider beach. As they headed back down that hill and towards the edge of the sand, they reached a sign.

Keitaro adjusted his glasses and read the sign out loud. It looked surprisingly crudely painted for a government sign. "Let's see. It reads: 'Warning: Nude beach ahead. Flying Turtle Beach is strictly for the use of nudists. The wearing of any clothing whatsoever beyond this point is strictly illegal.'"

Motoko cut in. "Nude beach? Illegal? What is this? I've never seen a sign like this!"

Keitaro rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Nor have I. And that name, Flying Turtle Beach, that's pretty risqué. But I guess it makes sense that nude beaches have risqué names sometimes. What about you, Mutsumi, have you been to a nude beach before?"

Mutsumi was staring at the sign too, very puzzled. "What, a nude beach? No, not an official one. But back in Okinawa us children all ran around naked on the beach until we were teenagers. It was really no big deal."

She read more of the sign for all of them. "Look! The rest of it says, 'Violations of this regulation will be strictly enforced as per the Anti-Voyeurism Act of 1996. The minimum sentence is 100,000 Yen and one month in prison."

Keitaro cried out, "One month in prison?!? Whoever heard of such a thing?"

Mutsumi pointed out, "Since we're still pretty close to Tokyo, if they didn't do that I bet there would be more gawkers than actual nudists."

Keitaro realized that was probably true. "Well, we can't help that. What should we do? Should we go on, or turn around?"

"Definitely go on!" Mutsumi said immediately. "I played on the beach all the time naked as a child, and it was lots of fun. And look at the big green cliffs to the right. There's no other way to the ruins except through this beach."

Motoko was flabbergasted. It suddenly occurred to her, _Odds are good Mitsune placed this sign here. Very good. And "Flying Turtle Beach?" Definitely her. She'd strongly hinted about putting me in a sexy situation with Keitaro, and this is what she must have meant. But I can't tell them that, or they'll know I've been party to her crazy scheming! She told me I would be "plenty anxious" - she sure got that right! But I didn't know it was going to be something THIS drastic! Is she completely crazy?!?_

Keitaro and Mutsumi were looking at Motoko, gauging her reaction. Keitaro said, "What about you, Motoko-chan? I'll admit the idea of being naked is pretty frightening. But I'm willing to go on if you two are. It's not like we haven't seen each other naked a thousand times or more back at the Hinata Inn, even if it was just briefly. But if you're at all uncomfortable, we should turn around."

Motoko considered her options. _I have to admit, if it was just Keitaro and me as it was supposed to have been, I might have been willing to go forward, even though I have half a mind to go back and murder Mitsune for going too far. But with Mutsumi here? That changes everything! She's more beautiful than I am, for one thing. More curvy, busty, freer about her body. But I promised myself that I would do anything to win him. I have to remember Mitsune's wise words: "It's up to you to act. If you act decisively, then you dreams may come true." If I abort this now, the two of them may come back here without me some time later, and that would be a complete disaster. I can't be chicken - I have to rise to the challenge and outdo Mutsumi, no matter what it takes!_

She spoke. "I'll admit, this makes me very uncomfortable. I've never been on a nude beach before. Have you, Keitaro?"

"Of course not."

"But I'm willing to try new things. I don't want to ruin our plans for the day before they really begin. It's okay if we go forward, even though it makes me uncomfortable. But only on one condition. Keitaro, you have to keep your eyes closed the whole time."

"Hey!" Keitaro was genuinely delighted. "I didn't think of that! They can't make a law against that. Okay, I can do that, and then we can make it to the other side no problem."

So they were in agreement, and they confirmed it with more nods, to make completely sure. Keitaro asked, "Does anyone have a bandana or something like that, that I can put over my eyes?" But there was nothing, so he just had to use his hands.

As he stood there with his eyes firmly closed and covered, waiting for them to undress, he thought more about the situation. _Heh-heh, what will Shirai and Haitani think when they hear about this? They'll die of jealousy. … Actually, it would be pretty uncool of me to tell anybody. Damn. And now that I think about it, this isn't so great after all. I'm going to have my eyes closed the whole time! It's like I'll be so close but so far. Mutsumi naked on one side and Motoko naked on the other, but I won't see a thing. I could try to steal a peek, but if Motoko catches me, she's going to send me into orbit with the most fearsome punch she's got!_

By this time, Motoko and Mutsumi had taken off their clothes, since there wasn't much to take off in the first place. They even took off their sandals. Motoko blushed profusely and covered up all she could with her hands. Mutsumi on the other hand still had her usual happy smile, and didn't seem bothered in the slightest to be naked. She didn't even try to cover up, especially since Keitaro couldn't see.

Mutsumi giggled, held her hand to her mouth, and said, "Okay Keitaro, now it's your turn."

Keitaro nearly had a heart attack. _Oh no! I was thinking just of them being naked! I have to get naked too! You pervert! This is what you get for being so perverted! They're going to see EVERYTHING! And if I get aroused… What am I saying," if?" I'm extremely aroused right now! I was so casual about it when I was just thinking of them being naked. "It's not like we haven't seen each other naked a thousand times or more…" But now…_

By now, the old Keitaro would probably have bled to death from the world's largest nosebleed. But since Keitaro had sex, his reactions were quite different. He was more confident, more daring.

"Okay!" he cried dramatically. "I'll do it!" But more calmly, he added, "But can you two promise not to look at me, either? I know we can't all have our eyes closed or we can't walk forward, but can you two walk in front of me and not look at you know what?"

Mutsumi giggled more. "Sure. I promise. Don't you, Motoko-chan?"

Motoko was in a bit of a daze, frightened to death. "Oh, what? Yes." She was as frightened at seeing Keitaro naked as she was at having him see her naked. She was incredibly bashful and inexperienced at all things sexual.

But suddenly she said, "Wait a minute! I should know the pervert would try something like this! If we walk in front, he can open his eyes and watch our back sides without us even knowing it. No. You walk in front, and we'll walk behind, thank you very much."

So Keitaro took his bathing suit off, and his sandals too. By feel, he stuffed them into the backpack he was carrying. He had no idea if they were looking at him or not, but he said boldly, "Okay! Ready! Let's go forward!"

**  
Chapter Thirty-Nine: Between a Rock and a Hard Place**

Back at the Hinata Inn, Mitsune ate a leisurely breakfast with the rest of the Hinata bunch. She was just about to go see how her nudity scheme was working when Haruka asked, "Has anyone seen Mutsumi this morning? I know Keitaro and Motoko are on a long walk, but I haven't seen her either. I wanted to ask her about something."

Nobody had seen her. Shinobu volunteered, "We're sharing the same hotel room, and I got up quite early this morning, around six. But she was already gone when I woke."

Suu noted, as she stuffed a banana down her mouth, "That means she's been gone for over three hours! Maybe she's been kidnapped! Or murdered!"

"Now, now," Haruka said calmly. "I'm sure it's not that. But it's odd to be gone so early in the morning for so long and not tell anyone. Why don't we take a look for her?"

Mitsune considered, _This is good news and bad news. Bad news, because they'll be wandering all over the beach, looking for her, so someone is liable to see me wander south. I can't have that. The good news is, this is a good excuse for me to get lost for a while. I'll volunteer to check the coastal highway, and then I can walk down the road and come down onto Keitaro and Motoko that way. They'll be even less likely to notice I'm spying on them if I sneak up via the back door._

----

Meanwhile, at Flying Turtle Beach, Mitsumi, Motoko, and Keitaro were now completely naked, but they still hadn't moved forward more than a couple steps. Keitaro realized a new problem. _The path is rocky until we reach the beach, and I can't make my way with my eyes closed. Not at all._

"Um, I just realized there's no way I can walk through the rocks with my eyes closed. Can someone hold my hand until we reach the beach?" He added honestly, but embarrassed, "It's actually kind of frightening to walk in a strange place without being able to see."

Mutsumi and Motoko looked at each other, each one considering who would be the one to hold hands. Keitaro still had his eyes firmly covered, so had no idea what was happening. Cutting off a likely conflict, Motoko said, "We'll both do it."

So Motoko got on one side and held a hand, and Mutsumi did the same on the other. They started forward, finally. The problem with that arrangement was that Keitaro now had no hand to cover his eyes or cover his privates. He kept his eyes tightly shut. The fear of walking blinded had temporarily cooled his passions, but as they walked together down the hill, he couldn't help but get aroused again. And, as Motoko and Mutsumi led the way with him dragging slightly behind, they had little choice but to inadvertently glance at his groin from time to time, as they repeated turned back to make sure his foot falls were secure.

Mutsumi seemed positively mirthful about the whole situation, and not particularly bashful about casting lingering looks at his privates, even though she'd promised not to. Motoko on the other hand was aghast. Her whole face turned red, and she tried to look anywhere else, but she kept accidentally dropping her eyes right to that spot. For her, it was the ultimate rudeness to violate someone's privacy that way, but an intense though deeply repressed sexual curiosity battled with her honorable nature. She was completely frazzled, and more than once she stumbled and fell onto the rocks. Luckily, she didn't get seriously hurt. It seemed that the fact that she was holding Keitaro's hand stopped her from falling much more than it protected him.

But the distance from the sign to the beach was actually fairly short, less than one hundred meters. It was a painful, prolonged one hundred meter walk, though. The sun too was starting to rise in the sky and they were hot and sweaty from their hour walk just to reach the sign.

When they reached the sand, Keitaro suggested, "Let's stop for a water break." The other two liked that idea. Motoko had a bloody cut on one knee, but luckily she brought some band-aids and patched it up.

Now that they were past the rocks, Motoko and Keitaro covered up their privates as best they could. All three of them felt incredibly awkward about the whole situation. There was a lot of nervous laughter and comments like, "Boy, this sure is something crazy, huh?"

Motoko pointed out, "The beach is about half an hour long, and luckily completely empty of people. We'll be past it in no time and onto those rocky hills on the other side. Certainly there will be a sign on that side too, and then we'll put an end to this foolishness." Her face was tomato still red. She didn't know what shamed her more: the thought of Keitaro seeing her naked, or the thought of her seeing him naked.

Since the walking hand in hand didn't work too well, Motoko suggested that Keitaro walk by himself with them behind, since they only had sand beneath them now. The beach was surprisingly narrow, only about five meters across, and more than enough room to prevent Keitaro from falling on anything dangerous, if he fell.

They moved forward, Motoko and Mutsumi keeping a few feet behind Keitaro and telling him when he strayed too far to the right or left. Even Motoko enjoyed the view of his rear as they did this, since it wasn't as dangerously taboo as his front side. But she wouldn't consciously admit this to herself.

However, Motoko forgot to take into account his incredible propensity to always fall right onto women's privates. They hadn't even gone 100 meters down the beach when he wobbled and unexpectedly fell completely backwards, directly into Motoko. His head hit her leg, knocking her down forward into him. They ended up completely sprawled all over each other. In the fall Keitaro  gave up any attempt to keep his eyes or privates shielded, and he opened his eyes as well in an attempt to save himself from injury.

He looked up and found himself staring at Motoko's thighs, since she'd mostly fallen on top of him. But within seconds she flew off and away from him, and if he was made of hot iron. Safely clear, she raised a fist, and cried out, "Why, you!"

Keitaro braced for the punch of a lifetime, but it never came. At the last second, Motoko remembered Mitsune's stern command not to hurt or insult Keitaro in any way. Inwardly she cursed, _Keitaro, this is all your fault! I blame you for everything! I will get my revenge!_

Mutsumi meanwhile was laughing at the whole scene. Motoko covered up as best she could, and yelled at Mutsumi, "Punch him!" She figured if she couldn't punish Keitaro for his indiscretions, maybe Mutsumi would.

But Mutsumi was the last person in the world to punch somebody. She just laughed some more. Then she said, "Oh, Motoko, it's not so bad. That's just Keitaro being Keitaro. Why don't we have a snack?"

Keitaro got a good eyeful of both Motoko and Mutsumi naked before he was belatedly reminded by Motoko to keep his eyes closed. Again Mutsumi didn't even bother to cover her privates, but he was equally interested at looking at Motoko, so cute, all blushing and angry.

They got up to walk again, and this time Motoko made sure she and Mutsumi kept a wide distance from Keitaro. But after only another 50 meters, Mutsumi suddenly passed out, and fell face forward into the sand.

Keitaro and Motoko immediately rushed to her aid, and kneeled beside her. But then Motoko looked at Keitaro with his eyes open, saw him looking at Mutsumi's naked body, and she raised her fist again. "YOU!" she cried. Again she was going to strike, but then she realized his eyes were wide as saucers, and now staring right at her groin. In the rush to help Mutsumi, she hadn't covered up at all. She cried out and covered herself, while Keitaro literally dived away and into the sand as if a hand grenade was going off near him.

Motoko cried out in intense anger, "You! … You, you!…" She thought of all kinds of nasty things to call him, but then again the admonition not to insult or hit came back. "YOU! GRRR! I'll deal with you later! You stay lying down facing away from us, and let me take care of Mutsumi first."

She looked to Mutsumi's face, and slowly Mutsumi came back to full consciousness. Cradling Mutsumi's head in her arms, Motoko asked, "How are you? Are you okay?"

Mutsumi sat up. She looked over and saw Keitaro splayed out on the sand, and giggled. "I'm okay. Just the heat. You know my fainting spells. Did you hit him?"

Motoko growled. "No. Not yet. But does he ever deserve it! His behavior is unforgivable! If you even so much as move a muscle, Urashima Keitaro, I swear…"

"I know what to do!" Mutsumi suddenly cried out, occupied with a new idea. "Let's go swimming!"

**  
Chapter Forty: Wet And Wild**

Motoko nearly fell to the sand in shock. "What did you say? Go swimming? Now? I don't mind swimming, but please, let's get off of this cursed beach and back into our clothing first!"

Mutsumi complained, "But I'm so faint from the heat. And the end of the beach is still so far away. The water is so nice and cool. I'll feel much better after a short swim, and I put on some more lotion. What about you, Kei-kun? Would you like to join me?"

Motoko really did fall over in shock at that. "Mutsumi! What are you thinking? You're naked! He's naked! It's so improper!"

"I know that," Mutsumi replied, "but he's obviously very hot and sweaty too. I thought if I left for this walk early in the morning it would be okay, but it's just so far to go, and so hot. We all could use a swim. Not to mention, out here on the beach anybody can see anything. But in the water, you're completely covered up to your neck. Look how dark and murky the water is."

Motoko looked at the water. It did seem very dark and murky. It looked like it got very deep very quickly. "I don't know. Are you sure it's safe?"

Mutsumi pointed out with her finger. "Look. This beach is in a bowl. It's really just an overgrown cove. It'll be fine."

So the three of them ate some more, put lotion on themselves, and went swimming. Keitaro could scarcely believe his luck. He asked Motoko several times, "Are you sure you're not going to hit me?" He was amazed that while she growled threateningly, she didn't even call him a pervert.

Motoko found that Mutsumi was mostly right about the swimming. Motoko insisted that she and Mutsumi keep a great distance from Keitaro in the water, and she couldn't even see her own waist in the dark water. She made sure to do nothing but bob in the water, so only her head was ever exposed. Keitaro also very carefully bobbed with his head out of the water, because he kept his glasses on so he could see.

They hadn't been swimming long when Keitaro cried out, "Look! Dolphins!"

Sure enough a pod of dolphins had entered the bay and were only a hundred meters from them. "Come on!" Keitaro cried. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity! Let's swim with the wild dolphins!"

It was a once in a lifetime experience. All three of them swam right up close to the dolphins, and found themselves right in the middle of a pod containing dozens of playful creatures. All worries about nudity were rendered moot in the excitement. They lost track of time swimming, as the dolphins seemed very eager and happy to play. Keitaro was amazed as dolphin after dolphin swam right up to him and literally stared him in the face with intelligent eyes.

But dolphins and humans slowly drifted further out to sea. Perhaps half an hour later Motoko realized what happened and they had to say goodbye to the dolphins. But it was a slow slog - they were working against the tide, which was nearly a rip tide pulling them out. Eventually they gave up trying to directly fight it, and made for one of the sides of the bay, near its narrow mouth.

They made it out of the water okay, but now there was a long walk over rocks to get back to the beach. They actually weren't too far from the nude beach sign where all their troubles began.

With so many rocks everywhere there was no way to keep one's eyes closed, so Motoko ordered Keitaro to get a big head start on them. But still he was seeing more and more of them nude, for instance when they all got out of the water. It just couldn't be helped.

Between the swim with the dolphins and the torturous, careful walk over fields of rocks, it was well over an hour later when they finally reached the beach again. They were hot and tired and ready for lunch.

Keitaro was the first back. He cried out, "Our stuff! It's all gone!" The two women quickened their pace to join him, and sure enough discovered all of their possessions had vanished. The tide had risen, wiped the beach nearly clean, and then turned. There was absolutely nothing left - Keitaro's backpack, Mutsumi's backpack, the umbrella they'd set up when they were snacking - it was all gone. Keitaro went swimming, though not far out because of the strong tide, and the only thing he could recover was one watermelon Mutsumi had brought, bobbing on the surface.

The three sat back on the beach, dejected. They made sure to sit under the shade of an overhanging tree, and Keitaro sat with his back to the other two. They had to be very careful about sunburn now. "What are we going to do?" Motoko moaned. Even Mutsumi looked very worried.

Motoko went on, "The shame! The disgrace! We don't have a stitch of clothing between us, except for Keitaro's glasses. If we go back, we'll have to walk through something like two kilometers of crowded beach before we reach the teahouse! We can't do that!"

Keitaro was thinking similar thoughts, but he couldn't find any solution.

Mutsumi had a suggestion. "There's also the coast road. We could keep walking towards the ruins until we find a path that leads up the cliffs. There's bound to be one sooner or later. Then, we'll wait until it gets dark, and walk back along the road. Whenever a car comes, we can duck down and hide in the bushes. If we wait past dinnertime when all the beachgoers have gone home, there are very few cars at all, I think."

Keitaro answered, "Maybe. But that sounds so miserable, sneaking along like thieves. And everyone will be wondering what happened to us, and looking for us! And what do we do when we finally get back? We'll still be naked! What are we going to do?"

**  
Chapter Forty-One: A Legend in His Own Mind**

Mitsune couldn't find Keitaro and Motoko anywhere. It took her a while to reach the nude beach from the road, but she finally did it. Still, they weren't there. Had she stayed she would have seen them before long, but she was impatient. She thought about Mutsumi's disappearance, and considered that wherever they were, it was highly likely all three of them were together. _Probably they ran into Mutsumi on the way down the beach, and decided to go do something else. Motoko probably thought the beach walk wouldn't be the same with Mutsumi along. I should go back and tell everyone else. We really shouldn't worry so much._

Keitaro, Mutsumi, and Motoko eventually found a way back up to the road, the same path Mitsune had used earlier when looking for them. The road came close down to a cove that was a ways south from where the nude beach was. It was only about a hundred meters from the cove up a steep hill to the road.

By this time, they figured it was about one o'clock. They had all afternoon and the early evening to go before they could safely head back, and nothing to do and nowhere to go. They figured it was much better to pass the time at the cove instead of hiding near the road. There was a river nearby falling into the ocean so they had plenty to drink, but there wasn't any food except for their one, now precious watermelon.

They'd scrambled up and down so many rocky hills together that worrying about nudity had become a low priority. Motoko and Keitaro both covered their privates wherever they could, but that was about all they did about it. Mutsumi apparently didn't mind at all that Keitaro would look at her. And look at her and Motoko he did_. I simply cannot believe it! I still haven't been punched! Motoko's face is constantly flushed and she's always shaking a fist at me, but that's it. The gods must truly be smiling on me today. They're both so beautiful. I don't know which one looks better!_

They passed the time impatiently. All three of them took a nap on the beach under the shade. Then they swam some more. Then they played games in the sand, using sticks and stones. At first, they were all bothered, by hunger, by the nudity problem, and by their overall predicament. But over time they started to enjoy themselves more. They had fun swimming some more, talking, and playing games. They carefully doled out the watermelon, enjoying every last drop and bite.

Motoko still went to great lengths to cover herself with her hands at all times. But she was resigned to Keitaro staring at her like that. And she carefully scoped out his body at every opportunity where she thought she wouldn't get caught.

In the late afternoon, Keitaro took another nap. This time, he slept soundly, and dreamed…

---

Keitaro was lying on the beach, with Motoko sitting up right next to him on one side and Mutsumi on the other. Both scooted in to him closer and closer. Mutsumi put her hand on his arm, and then rubbed his chest. Motoko followed suit on the other side.

Mutsumi said brightly, "Motoko-chan, this has been such a wonderful day, don't you think? I'm getting to know Kei-kun sooo well!" She swept down so she could caress him with both hands, and that caused her boobs to sway forward practically into his face.

Motoko enthused, "Oh, I completely agree! Today has been a lot of fun. Keitaro, please forgive me for saying so many mean things to you, that you're immature, and a weakling. I was wrong. You're so strong. And so BIG!" Her eyes looked hungrily at his crotch and she leaned in over him as well.

"Oh yes!" Mutsumi agreed emphatically. "He may not have the broadest shoulders, but he's big in all the right places!" Her hands drifted down his stomach. "Here Kei-kun, we must have gotten you painfully excited. Let me help you out." Her hands found his member.

"Wait!" cried Motoko. "Let ME help! I want to learn about everything between a man and a woman. Will you teach me?" Her hands also found their way between his legs.

"Me too!" Mutsumi cried even more excitedly. "I've never been with a man before. Please teach me how to make love! Right now!"

"No!" yelled a wildly passionate Motoko. "Teach me! Make love to me first!" Her hands pushed Mutsumi's away as she tried to take sole possession of his privates.

"No, me!" Mutsumi cried back. They struggled for control of him right above his chest. Finally Mutsumi paused and said, "Let's not fight. He can make love to both of us!"

"YES!" Motoko screamed. "Let's all make love! All together!"

---

Keitaro woke with a start, a giant shit-eating grin on his face. He opened his eyes wide and stared up into a blue sky. _Oh no! That was just a dream? But it was so good! We were all naked on the beach and…_

He froze and then bolted up into a sitting position. He frantically looked around and saw Motoko and Mutsumi sitting nearby, gaily talking to each other. It was a perfect day: they sat under a brilliant blue sky on pale sands, the deep blue ocean before them and luxurious green forest behind them. It took him a few moments to acknowledge the reality, and then it hit him. His eyes bugged out. _They ARE naked! I AM on the beach! … So maybe I got a little carried away in the dream, but reality isn't too bad either. Not bad at all!_

Motoko noticed he'd awoken and commented sarcastically, "What's gotten into you, Mr. Flying Turtle?" His hands flew to his crotch as he realized just what his "Flying Turtle" was showing, even though it had been like that most of the day. "Judging by that look on your face, I don't even want to know what kind of twisted, perverted dream you were having."

He turned beet red. "Aha!" Motoko said triumphantly. "You WERE having some kind of perverted dream. I should have figured!" Motoko was about to launching into a long invective of just how perverted he was, but then again remembered Mitsune's command not to insult.

She looked at Mutsumi. Motoko had belatedly covered her chest with both her arms now that she'd realized Keitaro had awoken, and a bent leg shielded her down below, but Mutsumi once again didn't bother. _What's with this woman? If I give him the dressing down he so richly deserves, it makes me look bad, because she's so accepting of everything._

"Mutsumi," Motoko asked, "doesn't it bother you when he acts like this?"

Mutsumi just put a hand to her mouth and giggled. "I think it's cute."

Motoko rolled her eyes. _"Cute." I swear. I like Mutsumi, but she drives me crazy. I will not let her outdo me!_

**  
Chapter Forty-Two: The Manager's New Clothes**

Before they knew it, it was well past dark. Luckily, they hadn't seen a single person all day, except for one far off, tiny silhouette as they were climbing up a hill. It was as if they had found their own private world. All three were almost sad to have to leave the beach and return back to their regular lives. Somewhere along the way, Motoko and Mutsumi put aside their competitive feelings and just enjoyed themselves. They really bonded in a way they'd never done before.

But then came the really unpleasant part. They skulked along the coastal road, nervously waiting for cars and then throwing themselves down wherever they could find some cover. Luckily not many cars came by, as they decided to wait a long time before starting, just to be on the safe side. But they had gone very far south, and it was a long walk back. The temperature was dropping too, and as they were naked, they grew increasingly cold.

The only silver lining came to Keitaro, who saw enough nudity of both Motoko and Mutsumi to last a lifetime of dreaming. He'd been aroused most of the day, and even Motoko got so used to that sight of him naked, after hours and hours, that it didn't faze her much any more. As they snuck down the road the two women kept a hand between their legs at least, and Motoko now had a large piece of watermelon rind that she held in front down there. But anywhere Keitaro looked, backwards or forwards, he was likely to run across someone's boobs or butt.

Keitaro led the way, since it would be less dangerous if he was seen first. They'd passed a few buildings along the way, but didn't dare to make any contact. Finally they came up to their hotel, which was along the road, up on the cliffs just before the beach. The women were very carefully covering themselves now, as the likelihood grew that some stranger would see them.

But now Keitaro was in a real pickle. _What am I supposed to do, just walk into the nice hotel, completely buck naked? I lost my room keys too, not that I would ever get as far as my room! Those two are counting on me. I have to do something!_

He snuck past the hotel, and went into the bushes near the long staircase leading from the beach to the hotel. He figured that with several hundred guests in the hotel, someone was bound to come up or down the stairs before too long, even though it was already at least eight o'clock, if not nine.

About five minutes later, someone did come. Without getting up out of the bushes, Keitaro cried out, "Excuse me! Can someone help me out! Excuse me!"

A voice answered, "Who is it? Who's there?"

Keitaro recognized the voice and stood up excitedly. "Shirai! It's you!"

Shirai and Haitani were walking together up the stairs and back to their hotel room. They took a look at Keitaro and their mouths nearly fell clear off of their faces. Not only was he completely buck naked (at least he had the wits to still cover his privates with his hands), but he was dirty, sun burnt, sandy, scratched up, and had wild, tangled hair. They might not even have recognized him but for his distinctive glasses.

Both of them doubled over in laughter. He remained in the bushes and crouched back down, miffed that he'd finally made contact and all they could do was laugh.

"What they hell happened to you?" Haitani managed to get out between hearty laughs. "Is this some kind of gag?"

"It's a long story. Can you please get me some clothes?"

They just laughed and laughed. Keitaro thought he couldn't get any redder or more irritated. Haitani eventually added, "They're all worried about you, you know. Where have you been?"

Keitaro finally persuaded them to bring him some of their clothing. He was smart enough not to tell them that Motoko or Mutsumi were also naked in the bushes not far off. Once he had clothes, he was able to get another key to his room, and then found clothes and some food to bring to the two females where they still remained hidden.

The strange ordeal was just about over. Motoko and Mutsumi were as grubby as Keitaro, and the last thing they wanted to see at this point was a familiar face. Word spread that they'd returned. The others had called off the search for Mutsumi earlier in the day when Mitsune got back and told them that all three of them must have gone off together. But when dinner ended and the three of them still hadn't returned, another search was organized. Haitani and Shirai had to wander all over, and find the searchers scattered here and there, and even looking by car in the nearby town.

The three of them holed up in Keitaro's room, since he wasn't sharing a room. Keitaro smuggled them in proper female clothing and more food, and they all showered, ate, and dressed. Now that they were back in civilization, once again it was a big taboo to see any nakedness.

Within an hour of returning, Motoko and Mutsumi retired to their proper rooms and collapsed. Most of the search party still hadn't returned, so thankfully they didn't have to do any explaining just then. It was a long day with far too much sun and walking. All three of them slept very soundly, not pausing to worry about what people might say or ask the next day.


	8. Part 8

**The Kiss That Never Was, Part Eight**

**Chapter Forty-Three: The Fox Strikes Back**

_Oh man!_ Keitaro groaned with a deep weariness and turned to look at his alarm clock_. 9:30. Not terribly bad. Could be worse. Oh man! _He staggered off to the shower to fully awaken and reflect.__

_Wow. What a day! That was like our own little version of Robinson Crusoe, except X rated. I'll never look at those two in the same way again. Wow._

_Just on a pure lust level, a carnal level, I am so in lust with both of them! Wow! Mutsumi is so soft and curvy and inviting. But Motoko, even though she's taller than me, and skinny, she's so firm and athletic and yet busty too! And their faces are so cute! Even more shockingly, they both like me! For a while there I thought Motoko was going to kill me for sure, but by the end it seemed like she was as happy and at ease as Mutsumi. Practically, anyways. And they were both checking me out as much as I was them. I hope I passed muster. And the dolphins and the camaraderie and the beautiful nature. Wow. It was all so great!_

_But I can only choose one of them. How can I possibly choose? They're both like goddesses! I want them both!_

What Keitaro wasn't thinking now was as important as what he was thinking. He wasn't thinking about Mitsune. Nor was he thinking at all about Naru.

Before Motoko, Mutsumi, and Keitaro went their separate ways the night before, they worked out a cover story so the others needn't know about their nudity. But Motoko went and told Mitsune the whole truth. She was very bitter about Mitsune's trickery, but she mostly held her tongue because she realized Mitsune was well meaning. She sarcastically noted, "'Flying Turtle Beach?' You could have been a little bit more subtle!"

From Mitsune's point of view, things couldn't have possibly gone any worse. 

Motoko wasn't too happy about it, either. Although sheer practicality forced her to grudgingly accept the nudity as the day went on, she was hardly happy about it. And as far as her competition with Mutsumi went, she counted the day a wash at best.

What Motoko didn't realize though was that the day was a huge leap for her in terms of becoming a more sexual being. Previously, she'd had an almost pathological shame of the sexual aspect of her body, and an equally strong aversion to the male body unclothed, especially the penis.

Before, she'd dreamed and fantasized about kissing a man. Beyond that, all was hazy and forbidden, even in dreams. But now, she was very eager and curious to touch Keitaro all over and explore every inch of his body. She realized kissing was just the start. Her desire for him, already sky high, surged even higher.

The same could be said for Mutsumi. She had a much more healthy attitude to nudity, sexuality, and masculinity. But there's a difference between not being ashamed of sex, and actively wanting to have it. Mutsumi was still a virgin, having been trapped in a remote corner of a tiny island near Okinawa for nearly her entire life. Spending the day naked with Keitaro also greatly whetted her desire to go much further than kissing with him.

But they and Keitaro were also a little overwhelmed by the experience. The rest of the day was surprisingly calm and free of conflict. Work on the play kept everyone busy. Keitaro walked around in a near stupor, barely able to focus on reading his lines for the play, because the images of Motoko and Mutsumi naked together and alone crowded his brain.

At one point, Mitsune walked up to him, and he stared right through her. "Helllloooo!" she said as she waved her hand right in front of his face. "Is anyone home?"

"Oh, what? Kitsune? Hi. How are you doing?" He drifted back into his daze, his eyes gazing blankly off into the distance, a stupid smile on his face.

_This is bad,_ Mitsune thought. _Real bad. It's like he's had a full-on frontal lobotomy. Remove the personality center of his brain, and insert naked pictures of Motoko and Mutsumi. I have to snap him out of it. But how? More sex with him? I promised not to do that. I really promised. Not to mention, he's so far gone he'd probably just imagine it was Motoko or Mutsumi the whole time and even cry out their names. That would be humiliating. No, I have to get his mind off of sex altogether for a while. But how?_

Mitsune paced back and forth. She rubbed her chin in contemplation, like Sherlock Holmes. _This is bad. Bad, bad, bad. I'm such a long shot with him, I don't even know why I try. Let me think. … I need an emotional crisis. Preferably involving someone too young for him. Sara, Suu, or, in a pinch, Shinobu. Hmm. If only it were the full moon and Suu stepped up with some kind of transformation crisis, that would be ideal. But I can't think how to bring that forward, and I don't want a brain dead Keitaro for the next couple of days or more, assuming that Suu makes a move at all._

_I think Shinobu is my best bet. Her feelings for Keitaro are like a ticking bomb ready to go off at any minute. What was it Keitaro said to me the other day? Something about how Shinobu was feeling really strange about something that happened the day after he and I had sex for the first time. Hmm. What did he say? She was feeling really guilty about something she did that made something stop happening that day. He wanted my advice about what it might be, but I couldn't figure it out. But if I can crack this, maybe I can break the grip Motoko and Mutsumi has on his mind. Hmm._

_It must have something to do with us having sex the night before. The coincidence is just too strong. If she found out, she would have wanted to stop it. But I haven't felt any animosity or obstacles from her since. Although… now that I think about it, the next day Mutsumi phoned and said she was coming back to Hinata Inn sooner rather than later. … Shinobu must have called Mutsumi and told her to come back right away! The little brat! Why, she's working exactly like me! Trying to counter the effect of one person on Keitaro by bringing in someone else. That's exactly what I've been doing, and not too successfully, I might add. But bringing in Mutsumi was really a masterstroke for her. It's made things twice as hard for my chances. Damn!_

_On the other hand, Shinobu's not like me at all. She's the complete opposite. She must be really eating up inside with guilt. This is exactly what I need. But am I desperate enough, conniving enough to use it? Am I that mean? … Actually, it's not a case of being mean. Shinobu has not been herself at all. The idea that she tricked her Sempai must be killing her, and one day it's going to come bursting out. It's just a matter of time. All I would be doing is moving the time up to inadvertently help me out too. I can live with that. She'll feel a lot better once she gets this off her chest. Yes, this is for her own good._

**  
Chapter Forty-Four: Brother, Who Art Thou?**

After dinner that evening, Mitsune cornered Keitaro when he was briefly alone. He was getting some dessert from the teahouse kitchen and the two of them stood in the doorway to the main dining hall. They could see all their friends sitting around chatting and having fun. Mitsune said quietly in his ear, "Look at Shinobu. Doesn't she look sad?"

It was true. Shinobu was sad. Everyone was laughing and drinking around her, and she laughed and smiled too, but it was a forced happiness. Looking at her for more than a minute, one could see flashes of sorrow breaking through her façade.

Keitaro sighed. "Yeah. But she won't tell me what it is."

Mitsune commiserated. "It's a real mystery, isn't it? It seems like ever since that day she called Mutsumi to come join us at the beach, she's been acting really strange."

"Yeah," he sighed again. Then, after a pause, "Wait a minute. What did you say? She did what?"

Mitsune feigned cluelessness. "Oh, did I say something? Oops! You didn't hear it from me. That ice cream looks good. I'm going to go get some for myself." She scurried off.

_Wait a minute!_ he thought to himself. _Shinobu was the one who called Mutsumi? That was right after Mitsune and I had sex, and the same day I kissed Motoko. She must have called Mutsumi to make sure I didn't get too close to either of them! No wonder she feels so bad - that's so unlike her. I really need to talk to her about this._

Keitaro pushed through the crowd. Haitani grabbed his shirt and held him up. "Hey Keitaro, are we going to play Spin the Bottle tonight? My idea isn't going over so well, but if you're behind it…"

"Some other time," he said, and pushed on.

He reached Shinobu. He scratched the back of his head nervously, wondering how best to handle this. "Howdy, Shinobu. Can I speak to you in private for a minute?"

The two of them headed outside, to the sands in front of the teahouse. They stood out under the stars, just out of range of all the light and noise coming from inside the busy building.

"What is it, Sempai? You look very concerned."

"I have a question to ask you. I've been putting two and two together, and it just came to me that you may have called Mutsumi and asked her to join us here at the beach. Were you the one to do that, and if so, why?"

Shinobu was taken completely off guard. Her mouth opened and closed several times, and her eyes grew big. Finally she burst into Keitaro's arms, crying. "Yes! It was me! I'm so sorry! So sorry!"

Once the tears started to come, they came like a torrent. She cried and bawled so intensely and so passionately, that Keitaro got caught up in it too and began crying as well.

For several minutes they did nothing but cry as they tightly held each other. As Shinobu started to cry herself out, she returned to repeating, "I'm sorry! So sorry!"

"Stop that," he said gently. "No need to keep saying you're sorry. It's okay. But I'd really like to hear why you did it. After all this time, sometimes I think I don't really understand you."

"I don't understand it either!" she said, and buried herself into his chest again, renewing her crying.

She looked up between sobs, and Keitaro found himself starting to cry again, as he saw her big, mournful eyes looking up at him so pained, so regretful. "I… I… I wanted…" She tried to talk, but couldn't for all the crying.

"Please," he said, "I can't talk like this. Let's turn away and stop crying before we go on."

"Okay. Sorry!" She let go and turned around to compose herself.

After a couple minutes, she turned around again. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize so much! It's okay. Just tell me what happened."

"Well, I found out that you were kissing Mitsune-san. And Motoko-san too! And I was hurt. And jealous. I know it's not right for me to feel those emotions, but that's how I felt. I don't want to lose you! I'm afraid you're going to find somebody you really love and leave the Hinata Inn, and leave me all alone. And I don't want you to go!"

She grabbed him again in a tight embrace.

"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. Not just yet." He stroked her hair reassuringly. "So you called Mutsumi and invited her, because you thought she could distract me from Motoko and Mitsune, right?"

Shinobu nodded into his chest.

"I hate to say this, but that's really playing with fire, isn't it? You know Mutsumi and I are attracted to each other too, don't you?"

"Yes, of course," she said in a sad tone. But then, more forcefully, she added, "But why? Why are you attracted to them, and Naru too, but you're not, you're not…" Her voice trailed off, and once again she cried without restraint.

"Wait, wait, stop crying." He pulled her away from his chest and looked her lovingly in the eyes. "Shinobu, you have to understand that I love you. I may not love you romantically, but I still love you. You're really important to me. Don't confuse yours feelings for me with romantic love. Maybe it feels like that sometimes, but think about the love of a brother and a sister. Romantic love comes and goes. Yeah, sometimes people get married and have a long, happy time with each other, but often they don't. Often they break up and never want to speak to each other again. But the love between a brother and sister, family love, that goes on no matter what. You're always family, and that never changes. That's a rock you can always rely on. That's how we should be.

"I think of you more as a little sister, it's true. Maybe if our ages were closer together it would be different, but they're not. But that can be a good thing, that we avoid that."

She looked up at him hopefully yet doubtfully. At least, she'd stopped crying.

He continued, "Think about the fact that I'm attracted to all these women right now. I can only end up with one. The others, who knows, I may fall away from them over time. I may not even speak with them again when all is said and done. I don't know. If you were one of that group, maybe things would work out between us romantically, and maybe they wouldn't. Maybe it would be very painful, and we'd never talk again. That happens a lot, like I said. … But if you and I are like brother and sister, we can get past all that, and stick together for each other. Be there like a rock. Isn't that a lot better?"

Again she grasped him with all her might. "Yes. Yes it is. You know my troubled family situation. I feel kind of like the people at the Hinata Inn are my real family, and I'm so afraid. I'm afraid everyone will leave me, and that you'll leave me! Because we're not a real family, we're just people living in the same house. But I love everyone so much!"

"I know you do. And everyone loves you. Let's not worry about this thing about phoning Mutsumi, okay? I'm not mad at you. In fact, I'm glad you did it. She's making this vacation more fun for everyone. But think about what I've said. About thinking about me like a brother. Okay?"

"Okay." Her eyes were still red, but there was genuine happiness there now, a real smile. It was the first time he'd seen that from her in days.

She thought about his words. _I feel so good to hear him say that he loves me. So comforted. And I do love him like a brother. But not just like that! I have romantic feelings too, and I can't just wish them away, no matter what he says. I know he's right and my feelings are improper, but that's the way I feel! …  At least I feel better now. Knowing that he forgives me for phoning Mutsumi is like a huge burden lifted from my shoulders. Tomorrow I may feel bad that he says he doesn't love me romantically, but tonight I just want to revel in the fact that he says he loves me so much. Sempai! Oh, Sempai!_

"Let's go back inside," he suggested. "Before people start worrying about us."

They walked back arm in arm, very content to be with each other.

**  
Chapter Forty-Five: The Wrong Thing For The Right Reason**

Mitsune was hiding in the shadows. She sniffed, and wiped her eyes with a sleeve. Since she was the one who started this drama, she knew Keitaro would immediately take Shinobu outside. She couldn't help but sate her curiosity over what he'd say and spied on the whole thing. She'd cried nearly as much as they did as she watched.

_That was so touching,_ she thought. _What's happened to Keitaro? He's matured so much! He handled that so well, and obviously completely off the cuff. What's causing this? Has having sex changed the way he deals with women that much? Is it the confidence of finally becoming a Toudai student? I wonder if maybe it's that Naru is gone. She loved him so much, but she was also keeping him in a kind of an emotional deep freeze, with their relationship not moving forwards or backwards for so long. Now he's bursting out of his shell and really maturing. Maybe it's a combination of things._

_The problem is, seeing him act like that with Shinobu, so noble, so wise, makes me love him even more. And yet the only chance I have to love him is to be tricky and backstabbing. And really, I'm not worthy of his love if I keep going on like this. But it's just like the dilemma Shinobu faced when she phoned Mutsumi. She knew it wasn't right, but it was her desire for love that made her do it._

_What a tangled web we weave! I don't know if I can stop my scheming. Maybe that's just part of my nature, anyways. But at least I need to vow that I'm not going to hurt anybody doing it. This manipulation of Shinobu I arranged was a good thing for her and for him. And it helps me. He won't go tonight dreaming of Motoko and Mutsumi, at least. I need to at least do no harm to others. I told Motoko I'm going to help her get Keitaro, and that's what I'm going to do. The things I do and say to her will be to help her. If I do some OTHER things to other people to help them that inadvertently don't help her chances with Keitaro, that's different. But I'm not going to directly stab her in the back. Not when Keitaro is acting this noble._

---

Mitsune's latest scheme was as successful as her previous one was a failure. Up until he spoke to Shinobu, Keitaro had spent nearly all his time the whole day split between Motoko and Mutsumi. But after the talk, his focus shifted to Shinobu. The group stayed in the teahouse until late, playing games like charades and Twister. Keitaro sat next to Shinobu, his arm frequently around her chair, and his presence kind and comforting. She had a wonderful evening, even though pushed to the back of her mind was the new found confirmation that he wasn't romantically interested. He seemed much happier too, as he put his romantic conflicts out of his mind for a spell.

Keitaro went to bed without further incident. But Mitsune's scheming wasn't over. She thought, _This thing with Shinobu opened the door for him to think about me again. But I'm still not on his mind. I know I vowed to him that I would give him space and not try to sleep with him again. I was just vowing that again earlier today. But that's not a vow I can keep. That's not a noble vow, like my new vow to do no harm, or my promise with Motoko to run every day and not drink. I've been so good that I even ran all by myself yesterday when she was gone all day. But there's no harm if I break this no sex vow. We get to have fun. It's win-win. He has no girlfriend he'd be cheating on, at least not yet. No one gets hurt._

Mitsune went to sleep like everyone else, but she set her alarm for one o'clock in the morning. All the women shared their rooms. Mitsune had arranged that Sara would be her roommate, knowing that Seta was likely to show up and that when he did, her double would turn into a single. So there was no one to notice when she woke up and slipped herself out of her room.

Keitaro awoke in complete darkness, feeling the skin of Mitsune lying naked next to him. He was actually quite shocked. Not shocked so much that she would try this - ever since they first had sex, just about every night he would go to sleep wondering if and when she would make her next move. But he was amazed that she'd found a way into his locked hotel room.

"Kitsune? What are you doing here? How did you get in?"

"Your first question is easy. What do you think?" She snuggled up to him, and kissed him on the lips. He offered no resistance. On the second kiss, he kissed back, and the kiss went on and on. Satisfied her latest seduction was working, she returned to his questions before things grew too heated.

"As for your second question, you know last night when you and Motoko and Mutsumi all told the hotel you lost your room keys? In the resulting confusion I somehow accidentally on purpose wound up with an extra key too, except to your room, not mine."

"Mitsune! You're so bad!"

"I know. I'm so bad. If you only knew just how bad I've been lately! But I'm also so good. Let me show you what I mean." She dropped her head down into his lap, and soon Keitaro was feeling so much pleasure that he completely failed to recall his vow not to have sex with Mitsune.

He only remembered it after he woke up the next morning. By that time, she was long gone.

**  
Chapter Forty-Six: Calm Before the Storm**

The next day was supposed to be another day for relaxation. There was a company on the beach offering windsurfing lessons, so the whole Hinata gang took the class together. Everyone, that is, except Seta and Haruka, who apparently were both quite good at windsurfing already. The two of them sat on the shore talking and watching the others, especially minding Sara.

The classes took all morning, and in the afternoon everybody, including Seta and Haruka, rented their own windsurfing equipment and each person tried it out on their own. Motoko, thanks to her years of physical training and very attuned sense of balance, leaped ahead of everyone in talent at the new sport. But to her chagrin, Seta was once again ahead of her and better than her. He and Haruka cruised around over the water like they owned it.

But everyone had fun. Even Sara was able to stand up and cruise around, and roughly stay within range of Seta and Haruka. The wind conditions were just perfect for the sport.

That evening there was more drinking and games in the teahouse, with an emphasis on drinking. Mutsumi really shined, and Keitaro naturally drew towards her. Motoko and Mitsune were chagrined. Motoko just didn't have the social skills to be bubbly, flirtatious, and charming like Mutsumi. Mitsune did have those skills, but the fact she was still banned from drinking hurt. It was like Mutsumi and Keitaro were sharing a private joke that she couldn't be a part of.

After the camaraderie at the nude beach, tensions between the three women had cooled down, but now the sense of competition was heating up again. Each one knew that it was bad to leave Keitaro alone with either of the other two. Yet Mitsune continued to help Motoko. At that night's party, she even continually tried to draw Motoko out into the conversation and draw attention to her. Afterwards, she coached her on how she could do better next time. But there was nonetheless a certain weariness between even them. From the completely different way Keitaro treated Mitsune since the night before, Motoko sensed that the two of them had slept together again. She didn't like that one bit.

So that evening as the party broke up, all three women carefully followed Keitaro to his room and said goodbye together, assuring that none of them could kiss him goodnight.

The next day was another practice day. A very solid day of hard work and progress on the play pushed romantic tensions to the background. The only interesting thing of note was that Haitani had apparently appointed himself Haruka's assistant in managing the play. Haruka didn't ask for it, but nonetheless she found him always at her beck and call, standing with a clipboard and copies of the script, ready to run errands, pass messages, and the like.

Later that day, when Haitani was finally detached from her, Shirai came up to him and thwacked him with a hat. "What is with you, my friend? Why are you so moony over that old broad?"

"Hey!" He thwacked back with the clipboard. "Don't think of her as old. Think of her as mature, like a fine wine. She's the director of this brilliant movie reenactment, and we have to treat her with respect. Think of her as the female Steven Spielberg. The George Lucas of Japan. The new Akira Kurasawa!" He raised his hand dramatically and looked up, as if she were on a balcony and he was serenading her from below. Shirai thwacked him again and shook his head in bemused puzzlement.

---

Ever since Keitaro had come to the beach teahouse, he had seen surprisingly little of Suu. There were several reasons for this. One was that the production of the Star Wars play was like a dream come true for her in terms of her love of inventing and creating. She had an endless amount of work to do to come up with all the special effects, costumes, backgrounds, and more. Everyone knew she was a genius with those kinds of things and relied on her exclusively. Even on what was supposed to be their off days she worked non-stop on the play, unless Sara and/or Shinobu dragged her away to have fun.

The other reason was that she was still very much after Keitaro, but knew she couldn't compete with him on the same level as the older women. So she didn't even try. For instance, at evening parties in the teahouse, Keitaro, Mutsumi, and Mitsune tended to be the center of activity with a lot of people crowded nearby and drinking copious amounts of alcohol. Suu, by contrast, was inevitably placed on the periphery, at a sort of "kiddie table" with Shinobu and Sara. The adults kept an eye on them to make sure they didn't drink alcohol or get otherwise "corrupted." They found it all a bit insulting, and much worse than the more intimate gatherings back at the Hinata Inn. Even Keitaro, who normally treated her like an equal, was acting more patronizingly towards her lately.

She knew full well that Mitsune, Motoko, and Mutsumi were all in a race for Keitaro's affection, and that she wasn't even at the starting gate in the race. Not to mention, she was merely fifteen years old. But she wasn't bothered by that. In fact, she was utterly confident that she could make Keitaro hers. After all, she had plenty of reasons to be so certain. For one thing, she was an incredible genius, creating inventions in days that teams of scientists had never been able to make after years of research. And no doubt such skill was connected to the strange magical powers she possessed, powers that included the ability to temporarily age during full, red moons. Now, thanks to Mitsune, she also possessed a working aphrodisiac. On top of it all, she was a princess back in her home country, with access to large amounts of money and resources.

Between all these things, she felt sure she could overcome any obstacle, once she was ready to do so. And with Naru gone and the other women so obviously getting closer and closer to Keitaro, she knew she couldn't afford to wait any longer. On this night the full moon she'd been long waiting for would finally arrive. She was ready to strike.

**  
Chapter Forty-Seven: Red Skies at Night**

Suu had worked out an extremely simple plan. First, she had to make the moon turn red. It wasn't going to reliably turn red on it's own, especially since this was not the storm season that sometimes created the right conditions. So she'd constructed an elaborate machine that would put out a tremendous amount of red dust over their teahouse and hotel, in essence creating her own stormy sky. For her transformation magic to work, the moon only needed to appear red from her point of view and not actually be seen as red for hundreds of miles around.

Then, she had to get Keitaro alone. There was no shortage of methods and excuses she could use for that. Once alone, she merely had to get him to drink some of the love potion, he would take her, and she expected the rest would follow.

She didn't know exactly what "the rest" was, though. She wasn't a bashful girl, and even at age fifteen, she felt very ready for sex. But she had no actual experience, not even intimate kissing. Her eagerness was only heightened by the fact that the red moon transformation not only made her appear several years older, but also unleashed her hormones. It was as if she saved up all of her sexual energies for the few, brief times when her body changed, and then all that energy came flowing out. The last time that had happened to her, nearly a year ago, she'd been so aroused that she'd openly asked Keitaro to make love to her, even though she was just fourteen. She figured with her hormones in overdrive, and Keitaro under the spell of the aphrodisiac, the two of them making love was a foregone conclusion, and "the rest" would follow naturally. 

She had good reason to assume that once she'd seduced him, lust would turn to love. She'd given the turtle Tama-chan the aphrodisiac and saw it become permanently attached to Mecha-Tama. More recently, when Mutsumi gave Keitaro the turtle Taro-chan as a gift, she'd given the new turtle some aphrodisiac too, and it also fell hard for Tama-chan. (Tama-chan was now a bit of a two-timing turtle, dividing her affections between Taro-chan and Mecha-Tama.)

So she felt confident the same thing would happen between her and Keitaro. If it didn't, she figured she could come up with something else - even kidnapping if necessary. She had a lot of inventiveness and resources she could draw upon.

So confident was Suu, that although she hadn't told anyone her scheme, she hadn't tried very hard to hide the fact that she was up to something. Keitaro already had an inkling something would happen with the next moon. But in case he was in any doubt, Mitsune fully clued him in with her suspicions. The last thing Keitaro wanted was a romantic complication with Suu. He just wasn't attracted to her that way, mostly because of the age factor, which was even more extreme than with Shinobu. So he and Mitsune worked out an elaborate scheme of what to do if Suu tried something.

That evening, everybody was in the teahouse, as preparations for the play slowly morphed into yet another party. Suu couldn't prevent or delay her transformation once the moon changed. So, like Dr. Jekyll afraid to expose his Mr. Hyde persona, she left before dinner, before her transformation was complete.

That made everyone completely aware of what she was up to. But hours passed and nothing happened. Finally, the party began to break up, and people headed back to the hotel.

Mitsune, however, was absolutely determined not to leave Keitaro's side for any reason. After all, they had a detailed scheme worked out. The others left Mitsune and Keitaro behind, so the two of them could implement their scheme and defuse the Suu situation.

Keitaro was nervous about what would happen next, and drank a bit too much to calm his nerves. As the two of them sat in the teahouse, they heard a voice calling from outside. It was Mutsumi's voice. "Kei-kun, can you come here?"

It sounded very much like Mutsumi, filled with mirth and love. But Mitsune whispered to Keitaro, "This is it! I'll bet that's not Mutsumi. Remember, one of Suu's inventions allows the mimicking of voices. Be careful!"

Keitaro walked out of the teahouse, and followed the direction of the voice. Mitsune stealthily followed a discreet distance behind.

"Over here!" the voice cried out, leading him down the beach and further from the teahouse. He followed.

Eventually he reached another ramshackle building not unlike the teahouse. On the roof was Suu, dressed in the Indian-styled sari that she always wore during these transformations. She played an enchanting, exotic melody on her lyre, as she had in the past.

She looked up, recognized him, and then waved a friendly hello. Then Keitaro turned furtively to look for Mitsune behind him. When he turned back towards Suu, she was gone.

Within seconds, she appeared right next to him. Her lyre was gone, and she swayed her body with her hands behind her back, filled with anticipation.

"Good evening, Keitaro," she said shyly, as she looked at him demurely.

"Good evening, Suu," he replied evenly.

He took a good look at her, and was astounded, even though he'd known what was coming. Objectively, she was the same Suu. She was the same height, the same hips, the same stomach, the same breasts. But somehow she was different. Certainly it showed in the face. Her cheeks were different, and so were the eyes. It was more than just what one could do with makeup - it really looked like she'd aged a few years. Her cheeks were tighter, her skin all over, darker. It appeared she had less baby fat, and more firmness and tone to her body.

He'd heard that in remote societies where people walk on hot coals, studies show their bodies actually temporarily change. The soles of their feet grow an extra centimeter or two thicker, and become quite hard. This lasts during a trance so they can walk over the coals, and when the trance is over, the body returns to normal. He figured that if that was possible, then what he was seeing with Suu was just on the edge of possible. But still, it was very hard to fathom.

"Suu," he asked, "how do you do it? Honestly. I know about the red moon, but how does it make you change?"

She giggled, and pressed him close. "That's for me to know and you…" He thought she would say "to find out," but instead she said: "…not to know!" That made her laugh.

She grabbed his sleeve and pulled him along. "Here, come with me. I have something to show you."

**  
Chapter Forty-Eight: The Beautiful Cage**

He walked with her down the beach. Seemingly conjured out of nowhere, right smack in the middle of a very public beach, was an exotic, open-aired pavilion. It looked like the interior of some fabulous yurt owned by a Mongol khan, or the palace of some wealthy Arab sheikh from ancient times. It was a raised platform with walls, mostly, but no roof. The side facing the ocean was open, and it was practically at the waterline. There were rugs, carpets, draperies, and pillows strewn about everywhere. Keitaro felt like he was on a movie set for something like _The Arabian Nights._

"Wh-whaaa? Where? How? … How did you do this?"

She giggled joyfully. "Don't worry about that. I have my ways. I haven't been working JUST on the play set construction lately. Tonight is a very special night for me, for us. I want it to be perfect."

Keitaro noticed music playing the same strange and alluring sounds she'd been playing on her lyre moments before. She took him by the hand, and led him up the steps and into the center of the pavilion.

"Where's that music coming from?" he asked. It sounded like live music, somehow coming from all around him. "And, for that matter, what if someone comes along? We're right in the middle of a very public beach, even if it is late at night!"

"Don't worry about that," she said with a peaceful serenity. He noticed she looked much calmer, gentler; in every way more mature. He couldn't imagine this Suu kicking him in the face or stuffing her mouth full of bananas. "I've taken care of everything," she said confidently. "Nobody can come near."

With a start, he remembered Mitsune. He looked around frantically, as if she would pop her head in at any second.

"Don't worry, I've taken care of Mitsune, too." _It's as if she can read my mind!_ he thought, but anyone could have read his thoughts because he was so obviously looking around for someone to come to his rescue. "She's fine," Suu continued, "but she won't be disturbing us."

She sat down on some rugs and throw pillows covered with intricate patterns that looked like they came from India or perhaps Persia. She patted some pillows next to where she sat and motioned for him to seat down as well.

All of the sudden Keitaro felt panicky. _No Mitsune? There goes my getaway plan!_ Their plan was to wait until Keitaro was given some of the love potion, and then have Mitsune rush in, say she knew what Suu had done, and then show some evidence they'd invented proving the potion was dangerous and possibly fatal to men in large doses. Keitaro was supposed to feign a seizure and be whisked away to the hospital. They had it all arranged with a doctor in a local hospital to feign a big scene in the operating room and have the doctor appear to barely save his life. One of Mitsune's friends had flown into town to play the doctor and had been waiting for just this very moment. They figured that would be so scary for Suu that's she'd swear off the aphrodisiac specifically and the seduction of Keitaro generally for a long time to come.

Keitaro thought, _What about Mitsune's plan? Without her, I don't know how to do it by myself! Faking a seizure is no good without all the backup. What am I going to do? … We misjudged Suu. She's a force to be reckoned with!_

"Here," Suu said, interrupting his thoughts. "Have something to drink. We've got all kinds of things to drink here, anything you want." She pulled out a tray with beer, wine, tea, milk, juice, and more.

_Oh no! _he thought while trying to mask his emotions. _The aphrodisiac! I'm sure every single one is full of it!_

Shakily, he replied, "Uh, no thanks. I'm not thirsty. You know how we were all drinking earlier. I drank a LOT. In fact, I'm so very completely the opposite of thirsty. Bloated! That's it! I'm completely bloated with liquids. Almost dangerously so!"

She laughed heartily. "Oh, come on. It's not that bad, is it? Am I that scary? I'll bet you think I'm going to make you drink the aphrodisiac, don't you? I know you know all about that."

Keitaro tried to keep a poker face, but realized she could see right through him. He nodded, a little bit at first, and then vigorously to unleash some of his nervous tension. "Okay, I'll admit it. That's what I'm thinking. I really shouldn't drink any of that. It's not right."

She giggled some more. "Too late. I thought you might say that, so I trained Mecha-Tama to drop some of the potion in your drink back at the teahouse. It should be kicking in right about now."

Keitaro seized up, suddenly intensely aware of his body. He mentally checked his pulse, his sweatiness, his mental state, his arousal level._ Is it working? Is the aphrodisiac already flowing through my veins? Or is that the alcohol affecting me from all my drinking earlier? Oh no, what have we done! We shouldn't have let things go this far!_

After a quick mental scan he realized everything was pretty much normal, except that he was aroused. _But is that the potion, or is it just the fact that I'm here with Suu? This is not the Suu I know. That sari is so alluring; exposing her stomach and letting me see right up the sides of her thighs. Her hair even seems wilder; longer somehow. Brighter in spots, darker in others. So fascinating! … And this setting! The sound of the crashing waves. The moonlight shimmering on the water. The music. The beauty of this pavilion. The pillows, tapestries, the big bed…_

_THE BIG BED?!? Oh no! I'm practically leaning up against a bed! _His eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.

Suu watched where his eyes went, and laughed some more. "I see you've noticed the bed," she said calmly. "That's where you're going to take me, tonight. You're going to take my virginity and make me a woman." She scooted in closer and reached out to put an arm around his shoulder.

**  
Chapter Forty-Nine: Lunatic of Love**

Keitaro shot up like a rocket and flew about two meters backwards before he came to a stop. Standing there, he tried to act casual, and ran his hand nervously through his hair.

"Uh, what did you say? Wait. I'll just pretend I didn't hear that. You're fifteen years old! That would be illegal, wouldn't it?"

She stood up and walked to him. She put her face close to his. Very close. "I may have been born fifteen years ago - fifteen and a half, actually - but is this the body of a fifteen year old?" That forced him to look at her body again. He dumbly shook his head no, even as he realized her body was fundamentally still fifteen. _She's so beautiful. Even her voice sounds deeper, richer! She's truly bewitched by magic! _

Keitaro stepped a couple of feet back from her, and leaned up against the wall of the pavilion, trying to act casual. "Wait. Before we go any further, let's talk. Tell me why you're attracted to me."

She looked at him hungrily, and crept closer. But she did answer his question. "I told you that last time, silly. You're funny. And fun. And kind. I just like to be with you, even if it's just to kick you. And you remind me of my brother. You look just like him. It would be so much fun for us to snuggle together at night." She put her arms around him, but he slipped down and away before she could make contact. He backed up a few more feet. He was now at the entrance to the pavilion, and put his hand on the handrail to the steps that he'd taken to walk inside.

"Let's talk about that," he said, hoping a long discussion could spoil the romantic mood, and at least give him time to think. "Let's talk about your brother. I mean, isn't it unhealthy to have those kinds of feelings for a brother?"

She laughed again. There was a magical lilt in her laughter that he hadn't noticed before. It made her even more enticing. "It's not like that, you big dummy! He's my brother, but he's not my BROTHER. We're not related by birth. But according to the customs of my country, he's pledged to marry me."

"Marry you?" He backed up down the stairs and she steadily came at him. "Then what are you doing with me? You should be with him!"

"But that could be years away! I want you to be my first love! I know what you've been doing with Mitsune. I want you to do it to me, too!"

Keitaro's mind reeled. _She knows that? How could she know that? We've only done it three times, and in the depths of the night. What am I going to do against that logic?_

She caught up to him and pressed up against him. "Keitaro, just this one time. I'm so curious. I've been seeing it in movies and books. I want to know what it's like to make love. The way I am now, this is just temporary. When the moon changes back, so will I. Then everything will be like before. Don't even think of me as Suu. Just think of me as a mysterious stranger you bumped into in the night." She threw her arms around him, and brought her face close to his.

Keitaro was sorely, sorely tempted. _She has a good point. Just this once. This is not really Suu… No wait. I can't think like that. I have a feeling that if this happens, somehow things won't be the same at all. My instinct tells me her body won't change back either. Somehow I just know it. I have to get out of this! I'm tempted, but she's not the one for me. If I give in, this will lead to disaster with everyone! I have to get out of this, but how?_

He ignored her, even though her lips were practically up to his, and instead he stared off into the distance. "Wait a minute." He put his hands up in the air, making a pause gesture. "Wait. I feel something. … Something is stirring within me. Something … rumbling." He pushed her away, and brought a hand tentatively up to his mouth. He closed his eyes and looked to be concentrating intensely.

"Yes. Yes, I feel it. Suu, you're right. You're so right. We should make love. I feel it now. I feel so very … aroused."

She clapped her hands with glee. "Goody! I knew it would work!"

She moved towards him. They were both now standing on the sand just outside the pavilion. But he opened his eyes, and the look on his face gave her pause.

He looked at her with eyes bugged out, as if a man possessed. "Yes, Suu, I will make love to you. Right now. Watch out, because I'm going to give you everything." His voice was low and menacing, and his eyes still very buggy and wild.

His arms reached out for her, but the arms were strangely ramrod straight and stiff. His hands grasped her shoulders, and squeezed them tight. "Yes! I can feel it now. The love potion is working! It's making me excited. Crazy, even. I feel so … WILD!" He stepped forward but his arms didn't bend, so he pushed her back a step.

Suu was looking very doubtful now. "I think I may have given you a bit too much of the drug." His eyes opened even wider, which she didn't think was humanly possible, and his mouth opened into a strange, manic, lopsided smile.

"You definitely took much. I didn't have any way to test it on anybody, except the turtles!" She took a step backwards and pushed his hands off of her shoulders.

He took another step forwards. His arms were still out straight, just like Frankenstein. He started walking forwards, as if he was going to walk right into her. She backed away. He took giant, slow, stiff-legged steps, and his arms swayed stiffly in front of him. He was directly inspired by the Frankenstein movie, and tried to model his actions on that monster. Then he remembered how the monster could barely talk.

"Must … make … love! … Woman! … Me … want … WOMAN!" He marched forward down the beach, and she scurried away just in front of him.

She wailed, "You're scaring me, Keitaro! Definitely way too much of the potion! Way too much!" He kept coming forward, step by step.

She squealed, and finally took off like a rabbit. He continued to walk like a slow, ponderous monster, so she quickly outpaced him and disappeared off into the darkness.

He kept up the walk just in case she might come back and see him, but inside he breathed a big sigh of relief. _That was too close! I have to admit, I was sorely tempted. … I don't know where I pulled this Frankenstein imitation from - it just came to me without thinking. But boy am I glad I did! That wasn't right if I would have made love to her there. On the surface, it was perfect: the perfect atmosphere, and she was perfect too. But she's just fifteen, for God's sake! It's not time for her to grow up yet. She should enjoy that age while she can. You're only fifteen once. Why rush to be eighteen? Years later she'll be wishing that she could be that young again._

Keitaro turned around and started doing the Frankenstein walk in the opposite direction_. I should head back to the hotel. Back to the teahouse, at least. _He continued with his deeper thoughts._ I should explain this all to her. I don't know how she does it, but it's not right to have your body skip ahead a few years. She should enjoy each year of her childhood to the fullest! Not only that, but it isn't right for her to want me just because I remind her of her brother. That's insulting, actually, to be a substitute like that. She needs to fall in love with someone her own age, and love them for who they are, not who they resemble. I should tell her that, too. It's too late to explain it now, though, I guess._

He continued to slowly stagger and lurch forwards. Not far from the front of the teahouse, he found Mitsune lying on the sand, sleeping. He looked around, and could see fairly far in the moonlit darkness, but there was no sign of Suu. So he came out of his Frankenstein routine, but hammed it up a bit, shaking like a possession spell was lifting, just in case Suu was watching. He was learning that you could never know when someone was watching, especially when it came to the nosy Hinata Inn gang.

He reached down and shook Mitsune awake. "Kitsune? You okay?"

She opened her eyes, saw him leaning above her, and smiled. She stood up and brushed the sand off, because she'd been planted face down in the sand. "I'm okay. The bigger question is, how are you, and how is Suu?"

"I'm fine. We're fine. It was pretty nip and tuck, but in the end nothing happened. What happened to you?"

"I don't know. Last thing I remember was I was just walking along. Then it's a blank until just now. Sorry I let you down."

"That's okay." He helped her up, and the two of them headed back towards the hotel, walking hand in hand.

"What happened?" she asked, now more awake and excited to find out what exactly happened. "Did you drink the aphrodisiac?"

Keitaro pondered that. _Did I? Did I really? Did I feel an effect, or was I just damn horny anyways from everything else? Hmm. I'll have to think about that._ But out loud, all he said was, "Now's not the time to talk about it. I'm beginning to think the walls have ears." He recalled how Suu said she knew Mitsune and him were having sex._ How did she figure that out? A mecha turtle spy? Perhaps. Or did I just give too much away with my careless behavior? _"Let's go back to my room and I can tell you all about it there."

She held him closer. "Okay! I like that idea." _I hope he realizes that once I'm in that room alone with him, I'm not coming out until we've had our satisfaction. He's turning into such a man! Heh-heh!_

But Keitaro hadn't even considered that possibility - that was just the only private place that sprang to his mind. As they walked on towards the hotel, he thought to himself, _I have to clear my mind of all the weirdness. What a strange day. What a strange week! I need a good night's sleep. I think I'm drunk on top of everything else. That wasn't smart._

_Tomorrow I should really talk to Suu. If for no other reason, there's going to be another full moon tomorrow night. Plus, she's going to be feeling very crushed. Maybe I overdid it on scaring her, too. And I've gotta be careful with Motoko, Mutsumi, Mitsune here - and who knows who else. There's just no telling what tomorrow might bring!_


	9. Part 9

**The Kiss That Never Was, Part Nine**

**Chapter Fifty: Dancin' Fool**

Keitaro was dangerously full of himself. He'd woken up very early, too excited to sleep after an incredible night of lovemaking with Mitsune. He walked out of his hotel room with the driving beat of the Bee Gee's disco hit "Stayin' Alive" pounding in his head. He quietly sang to himself, "You can tell by the way I use my walk, I'm a ladies' man, no time to talk…" He strutted his way down the hill to the teahouse for breakfast, singing the song the whole way. Normally he was very self-conscious about dancing, but the way he was feeling that morning, he didn't care. 

He had good reasons to feel full of himself, and he enumerated them in his head. _Why, may I ask, am I such a great guy? Well you may ask, Mr. Urashima. Last night, for starters. First, I defuse a difficult situation with Suu not through any help by Mitsune, but through my own wit, thank you very much. Then, later on, I made love with the incomparable, aforementioned Mitsune. And how we made love! When I look back to our first or even second time together, it's kind of embarrassing, now that I think about it. I was such a schmo that she actually had to plug my nose so I wouldn't practically bleed to death! Ha! Whereas, last night, I'm starting to get some style! Yeah! _He punched a fist into the air to emphasize the word "style," and then again with the "yeah."

_But that's not all. Nooooo siree! Not only is Mitsune making love to me, but both Motoko and Mutsumi wish they were. That day at the nude beach - man! That memory cannot be topped! And Suu, she wants me! So does Shinobu! I'm bad! I'm nationwide! I'm unstoppable! Heh-heh-heh! _Practically every sentence was now emphasized with additional thrusts of his arms in the air, mimicking the gesture made famous by John Travolta in his white disco suit. He continued on in this manner all the way to the teahouse. For someone who was supposedly so cool, he in fact looked quite silly.

Just before stepping into the teahouse, he actually paid enough attention to the world around him to take a good look down the beach. He noticed that the Suu's pavilion from the night before was completely gone. _Huh. That must have been only a couple hundred meters from here, but there's no sign of it whatsoever. It's just like it was a dream. But that's just like my life. A wonderful dream. A real waking dream!_

He stepped into the teahouse and said a very cheery "Good Morning!" to Haruka. She was the only one there already, and had been watching him come across the beach through a window.

She smiled nicely, walked up to him, and then thwacked him hard on the head with her elbow.

"Hey! What was that for? For once I didn't say anything objectionable to you at all!" He rubbed his suddenly pounding head.

"That was because you're acting like such a boob. If you're going to be like this all day, tell me now so I can put myself out of my misery."

"What? What did I do?"

"Keitaro, if the dictionary had an illustration next to the word 'smug,' it would be the look on your face right now." His smile collapsed straight off of his head.

She went on, "I generally try to stay out of your life and just let things run their own course. But as your aunt, I feel obliged to speak up, because everyone else is so directly involved in your romance games that they can't be objective. I'm the only one in a position to see objectively.

"I know enough of what's going on, though I don't know everything. Now that Naru is out of the picture, every single woman from the Hinata Inn is falling over you. So now you're strutting around like a peacock because all of the sudden you think you're God's gift to women. And from one perspective, that's true. But take a step back, and look at it from another point of view."

There was some concern on his face, but he still didn't really understand. "What? Everything is going great. My life has never been better. I'm the envy of any guy in Japan."

"Yeah, but ask yourself: why do you have some many wonderful women chasing after you? Is it that you're really so amazing? Or is a lot of it just plain luck; that you're the manager of a woman's dormitory containing a remarkable number of unattached, extraordinary women? How would you fare if you were coming into Toudai in the next few weeks just like any other freshman, and wanted to get a date? What would you do?"

He started confidently, "Well, I'd probably…" His voice trailed off into silence. More abashed, he confessed, "I probably wouldn't get a date. I don't really know how to meet people very well."

"Keep that in mind," Haruka continued, as she stubbed her cigarette into an ashtray. "And another thing. You have five women who think they're in love with you. Probably six still, counting Naru. Do you expect to have a harem of multiple wives, or mistresses, or something like that?"

"No! Of course not."

"Then consider. You're going to end up with one woman, Keitaro. One. The others are going to be crushed. Devastated, maybe. You're having fun now, but later the chickens will come home to roost. If you pick, say, Mutsumi, how do you think Motoko will feel? Will she flee the Hinata Inn, never to be seen again? How will Shinobu take it? You'll break her fragile little heart. Pick anyone, and the consequences will be enormous."

Keitaro's mouth hung open. "Holy…" He just gazed off, like he'd been struck stupid. "I… I just didn't think…"

"That's right. You haven't been thinking. You've been so busy having fun that of course you haven't thought. That's why I have to have this talk to you. Because I don't want to see those lovely women get hurt. You hold their hearts in your hands. You shouldn't be cocky - you should be careful."

His face was lined with worry now, and the strutting fool of a few minutes ago was long gone. "Oh my gosh! You're so right. I can be such an idiot sometimes!" He slapped the palm of his hand against his forehead. "What am I going to do? There's no way out! Every direction leads to lots of pain."

Haruka stood over him now, arms folded. "Don't get too panicky either. I'm not trying to completely deflate your ego; I just want to bring you back down to Earth. I only hope you'll keep things in perspective. Remember that you're a very, very lucky guy, not some super stud. And yes, you have many great qualities. Your grandma is very proud of you. Your parents are proud of you. I'm proud of you. You've accomplished a lot getting into Toudai, and any of these women should be very proud to be your girlfriend. Use your qualities to act responsibly, and don't just let your libido control what you do."

That suddenly reminded him of the previous night with Suu (though simultaneously he now didn't want to be reminded of what he did with Mitsune a short time after). "Haruka, I'm already trying. You should have seen what happened last night! There was a red moon and Suu transformed. She plied me with aphrodisiac and did everything to seduce me, but I resisted! I resisted! I knew it wasn't right. And a similar thing happened with Shinobu just the other day."

Haruka laughed. "That's good. You stopped yourself from sleeping with a fifteen year old, a girl six years younger than you. And a sixteen year old too. Next thing you're going to tell me is that you've resolved not to sleep with Sara."

Keitaro turned really red. He thought his resistance to Suu was a great display of wisdom and willpower, but now he felt ashamed that he was ever tempted in the first place.

Haruka saw that in his face. "Look, I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm belittling that. And I was trying to make a joke about Sara, but it came out all wrong. I know things are more complicated than when it comes to Suu. Much more complicated. For one thing, when she came onto you, she wasn't really fifteen. What you did was a good start. I'm going to keep breaking my own rule here and offer some more advice, and then I'll leave you alone. Learn from your experience with Narusegawa. Don't drag this out for seemingly years and years. I don't think any of us want to go through that again. Figure out what you want and who you want, and make your choice. The sooner that happens, the easier you can let the others down, and the less painful it will be for everyone. Did you do that with Suu last night? Did you make clear that she shouldn't be attracted to you? Did you let her down easy without hurting her feelings too much?"

"Um, well I…"

Keitaro was saved from answering the question because Seta and Sara were approaching the teahouse. Others were in the distance, arriving too. Haruka withdrew from Keitaro and headed towards the new guests. "Sorry for being such a cold shower. I know I'm not your mother - maybe I'm out of line for being so bold."

"No! No!" He waved his arms in a frantic but sincere gesture. "Thank you! I really appreciate it."

Seta and Sara were practically at the threshold to the teahouse now. Before they could enter and say hello, Keitaro fled across the teahouse and out another door, and headed off alone onto the beach.

**  
Chapter Fifty-One: From the Mouths of Babes**

Keitaro shuffled along the ocean shore, his head drooping way down. He was a man of emotional extremes. As happy as he was a few minutes ago, he was that sad now, and then some.

_Haruka is so right! I'm just so glad Seta and Sara walked in when they did, so I didn't have to answer her questions about Suu. No, I didn't really make it clear she shouldn't be attracted to me. Yes, I scared her to death, but for all I know she'll just conclude she gave me too much aphrodisiac and try again tonight. And I don't even know if I hurt her feelings or not. That's how much of an idiotic, insensitive boob I am. Dammit!_

He sighed very heavily. He looked up and back towards the teahouse, and realized,_ This is more or less exactly where Suu's pavilion was. There's not even an indentation in the sand that would indicate it was here just hours ago. That makes me feel like I'm hallucinating things._ Sigh

_Today's a rest day, and really our last one, since we've got a full day of practice tomorrow and then the play in the evening, finally. And then home. Haruka's running the play like a tight ship, I'll give her credit for that. _He hung is head down woefully again.

_So today should be a day of fun. I kind of wish she would have let me prance around like an idiot for the rest of the day, and THEN broken my illusions. Now I'm just going to mope._

"Rrraaarrrgghhh!!!" Something attacked him from behind. It was Sara: she jumped at his back and managed to latch her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. Keitaro didn't react at first, but then he slowly fell forward and his face slammed into the sand.

Sara hopped off, and stood back, trying to figure him out. She turned him over. "Hey, Mr. Dodo Brain, do you give up that easily? What a wimp!" She playfully kicked him.

He lay on the ground, face up now, and stared up in the sky like he was a corpse with its eyes still open. "Please, Sara. Don't call me names, okay? I'm having a bad day."

"A bad day? It's not even seven in the morning yet! Come on, get up, you, you … zombie!" She pulled at his arm, but it was like pulling at a wet noodle. She gave up and it flopped back to the ground. His glasses and face were covered with sand.

She sat down next to him with more concern. "What's wrong? Looks like you really have the blues."

He sighed again. "Yeah, I do. I'm probably being too dramatic about it, as usual, but I was really flying high, and then I got my wings clipped. Rightly so. Now I'm worried about all kinds of stuff."

"What kinds of stuff? Maybe I can help."

"Romantic stuff." He was going to add, "You wouldn't understand," but then he realized how condescending that sounded. Then it occurred to him_, I've been so full of my romantic successes lately, I've been treating Sara condescendingly. Shinobu and Suu, too. Mostly I've just been ignoring them. What a jerk I am!_

"Oh," she replied. "Hmm. … I don't know a lot about that. But I can tell it really hurts." She picked his limp arm up again and this time just held his hand in her two small hands. He saw this for what it was: a very heartfelt gesture of support. He was deeply moved.

He stirred for the first time, and sat up on her elbows, finally looking Sara in the eyes.

Encouraged, she squeezed his hand and continued, "I don't know romance, but I do know that when I'm bummed out, I turn to you crazy weirdoes to make me feel better. It's no good just getting down on yourself."

Keitaro let go of her hands, sat fully upright, and wiped his glasses off. _She's really right. She's a lot smarter than me, when it comes right down to it. Where would I be without friends like her? And Aunt Haruka? I really owe her a big one for today. I have to get off of my duff and engage with people. My problem is, I just sit around and stew in my juices too much._

"You're right, Sara. Seta's got a smart daughter. I've got an idea. Why don't we go windsurfing? You, me, Shinobu, and Suu; just as soon as the rental store opens. Then when we tire of that we can make that sand castle I was threatening to help with the other day. I'd really like that."

"Okay!" Sara said brightly, happy to see him reviving. "Threatening is right! You're probably a danger to sand castle makers everywhere."

He smiled a wan smile. "We'll see. Just one favor to ask, though. Could you get me some breakfast, and bring it to me here? We could eat breakfast together, out here on the edge of the water. I just don't want to deal with running into certain people right now."

**  
Chapter Fifty-Two: Brotherly Love**

Windsurfing with Suu, Shinobu, and Sara was a huge relief for Keitaro. Battling the waves and trying to stay upright drove all thought of his romantic difficulties out of his mind. Building the sand castle was a great occasion to reaffirm bonds with the younger girls that he'd been neglecting too much for weeks now.

It was quite strange for him though to sit there and make a sand castle with Suu. Looking at her one-piece bathing suit, the lack of her bodily development was obvious, especially in the breasts. And with a ponytail and her childlike demeanor, she seemed more like Sara than anyone. As he dripped drops of sand onto a sand castle tower, he fell deeply into his own thoughts. _I cannot believe I came thiiiis close to having sex with Suu last night! That seems even more unreal that the mysterious pavilion. I feel like a dirty … cradle robber! Although I have to keep in mind Suu is not your typical fifteen year-old. In fact, she's just about the most ageless person I've ever met. On one hand, she can act like a five year old at times, but on the other hand she can run mental circles around PhDs. _He sighed. _I really need to talk to her and get this all straightened out._

The windsurfing and castle making consumed the whole morning. When they broke for lunch, Keitaro hung back with Suu so they could talk. They moved off the beach and sat on a bench under some trees near a wide boardwalk, because they were getting too much sun (especially Keitaro, already red from his nude beach experience).

Keitaro started first. "Suu, I really want to apologize for last night…"

"Last night? What last night? I don't remember anything." She wore a playful yet clueless face.

"Suu, come on, let's not play games. I know you remember. Let's not make any judgments. Last night was what it was. Let's acknowledge it, and learn and grow from it." Suu didn't say anything, but from her face he saw she understood.

He grew more serious. "So you're interested in me romantically. I pretty much knew that already. I had too much of the potion, and so nothing happened. Maybe that was for the best."

"Maybe," Suu replied, but Keitaro could see from her face that she didn't really mean it. She was still determined to get him.

"Okay. Let me be more honest. That monster I turned into? That was all an act. I did have a lot of the aphrodisiac, but I could still control myself fine. I thought putting on that act was the least awkward way out of a bad situation."

"You!" She was really surprised. "You nearly scared me to death!" She rained a flurry of punches on him, but they weren't meant to hurt him so much as serve as a release for her frustrations.

He grabbed her and held her as a gesture of closeness, but also as a way to stop the punches. "Suu, you're really special to me. But I'm not the one for you. It sounds like maybe your brother is. But you can't just use me as a substitute for him. I have a lot of things going on in my life right now. Did you notice this morning that even though we were having fun, there's something hanging over my head?" She was glumly silent, so he pressed on. "Yes, I had sex with Mitsune, but sex isn't just a game. It's part of a complicated relationship I have with her. It's not something you can just force on people. I know you have all kinds of incredible abilities, but you can't just force someone to love you or make love to you. It has to happen naturally."

Suu had been fairly poker faced, but all of the sudden she started to cry. "But Keitaro! Those are my feelings! I like you so much! I want to be warm and cuddly with you! You're one of a kind. I can't imagine making love to anyone but you!"

"Your brother…" he started to say, but she cut him off.

"You remind me of my brother, and I like you for that. But he also reminds me of you, and that's part of the reason why I like him! You're not just a substitute for him; that's not what I meant!"

He tried another tack. "Suu, you're really special to me, too. But we're not meant for each other. Deep down, you know it. You're going to be a princess on the other side of the world, and some sort of rich, powerful inventor. I'm going in a completely different direction. We're ages apart from each other, too. You always, always get what you want. You're so talented, you only have to desire something and you can make it work or materialize. But it's not like that with people. Sometimes the best thing you could want from someone else is wishing them happiness with someone else, instead of possessing them like another wonderful invention."

She heard his words, but she continued to cry, now into his shoulder. "No! Don't be like this! Don't say that! Keitaro, I love you!" She looked up into his face, more hopefully now. "I know I'm too young, but I can change that. I can age, and not just for a red moon. I can stay that way. I want to be a woman, just like Mitsune."

Keitaro asked, "And what do you think Mitsune wants? I'll bet if you asked her, she'd say she wants nothing more than to be fifteen again. When you're a kid, all you want to do is get older, and when you're an adult, all you want to do is get younger. Nobody's ever happy about their age. I dunno, maybe someone is for five minutes when they're eighteen. I'm already feeling nostalgic for being younger."

"But Keitaro, that's what I want! Sometimes I feel like an older woman trapped in this tiny body. I want to get out!"

"And if you're smart, you won't. Look, this is a really tough time for me right now; the toughest of my life. I didn't realize just what was happening until this morning, but now I do. If you really love me, there's nothing I'd want more than if you stop pursuing me romantically and just love me as a friend. I've been on an emotional roller coaster. I could really use a good friend where I don't have to worry about the romance. If you try another red moon seduction tonight, I think I'm going to literally lose my mind."

She leaned into him. Suddenly, her face was inches from his. "I just want to kiss you. Why should that create so much trouble and pain?"

Keitaro became acutely aware of the fact that he was sitting on a bench right next to a busy boardwalk, with a fifteen year-old girl's lips inches from his own. People were pausing to stare as they walked by. He wanted to get out of that embarrassing predicament as fast as possible.

He pushed her slightly away, and avoided a direct answer to her question. "I want you to promise me something. Promise me you won't try to seduce me any more. Please respect my feelings and don't try to force what you want onto me."

"I'm sorry." She was no longer crying, but still sad. Suddenly, a devious thought popped into her head. "If I promise that, will you do something for me?"

"What?"

"Will you be my first kiss? That's what I really want. Maybe I'm too young to make love. But there's no one I want more for a first kiss than you. You're so kind and understanding, and I feel so comfortable with you…"

Keitaro fiddled with his glasses and considered that idea. "Okay, I'll make you a deal. If you can convince me, and really truly convince yourself, you're no longer attracted to me romantically, and you don't desire me in that way in any way, then and only then I'll kiss you."

"But that's a contradiction!" she correctly pointed out.

"I know. But there's a difference between really truly wanting somebody, and just enjoying a kiss with them. I know it doesn't make a lot of sense, and it may be a really stupid idea, but it just feels right to me. It feels like a good compromise."

"Are we talking a real kiss? A deep, give-it-your-all kiss?"

"Yeah. But just one, and that's it. Forever."

"Alright. I accept!" She hugged him tightly, happy for the moment. "I completely hate you now since you just rejected me. So let's kiss!" She puckered her lips and leaned in to his face again.

He smiled, scooting away down the bench again. "No. Nice try. The sooner you can convince me your romantic feelings are gone, the sooner we can kiss. I think that'll take a long time. You can start by not trying to seduce me again tonight."

"Darn! I had a big scheme worked out already." She fell back into gloom.

He couldn't help but laugh. "That doesn't surprise me. Someday you're going to make your brother or somebody really happy, because you never do anything half way." He stood up. "Now let's get back to the teahouse so you can start actively hating me in front of everyone."

A smile at that comment briefly crossed her face, but the sadness returned again, and she remained sitting. "You go ahead. I'm going to sit here and watch the people go by. I'll be okay."

Keitaro let her be, and walked off. She was hurting badly, very badly, but she didn't try to analyze her feelings, or ruminate on the situation. Instead, when she had a problem the way she dealt with her feelings was to bury them with new activity. She was a never-stopping dynamo of action. The first words to cross through her brain when he left were: _Alright. I've lost the battle but not the war. The plans for Operation: First Kiss are now going to commence! _

**  
Chapter Fifty-Three: Broken Promises**

As Keitaro walked down the boardwalk back to the teahouse, he pondered to himself, _Was that good or bad? Did I say the right things? I probably could have done better. For one thing, I wasn't completely honest. Like I didn't tell her that the aphrodisiac really worked. Man, did it ever work! It wasn't so noticeable when I was with Suu, but later with Mitsune the effect just kept on going and going. Practically half the night! It's a good thing I left Suu when I did, because the potion just seemed to get stronger and stronger with time. If the makers of Viagra ever get their hands on this stuff…_

_But anyways, I wasn't completely honest, even if I had good reasons to fudge things a little. And it really wasn't fair of me to tell her I knew her feelings better than she did. But I'm just so desperate to reduce the dimensions of my romantic problem. There's no way I can handle three women interested in me at the same time, much less five or six! I have a feeling that my dumb kiss compromise idea is going to bite me on the rear further down the line. Sigh_

Back at the teahouse, Keitaro found himself eating lunch with just Mutsumi. Looking at her sitting across from him put his mind at ease. _She's just so at peace with herself and at peace with the world. I feel so good, so content, being around her!_

But his ease was soon shattered.

Near the end of their meal, Mutsumi noted, "Kei-kun, only two more days here at the beach. Soon we'll be back in Tokyo."

"Yes. It seems like time has flown by so fast," he replied.

"I know a lot has been happening here, but do you still mean to keep your promise?"

"My promise? What promise?" He was genuinely confused.

"Don't tell me you don't remember! You know: your promise that you'd stay true and not fool around with anyone here at the beach, and that once we got back, we'd start officially dating."

"Oh, THAT promise!" He put on a showy smile even as he nervously scratched the back of his head. Inwardly, he fretted, _Oh no, what am I going to do? I've been blocking that out of my mind, just like how I've been blocking thoughts of the probable consequences on the women I don't choose. Am I really that committed to her already? And I've already broken the first part of the promise into pieces by sleeping with Mitsune! Twice in the past couple of days! I can't keep lying to everybody. I have to be brutally honest, or the heartache and misunderstanding will just multiply later!_

"Um, Mutsumi, I have to admit something. I haven't been entirely free of fooling around this last week. Mitsune and I… Well, we… Well, you know…"

Mutsumi put her hand over her mouth, which was making a perfectly shaped "O." After an uncomfortable pause, she said sadly, "I see."

Neither Keitaro nor Mutsumi noticed, but Motoko was sitting right behind them, eating her meal alone. She was alone on purpose, so she could focus her attention on eavesdropping on their conversation. When she overheard Mutsumi explain Keitaro's promise, she calmly got up, put her plate of food away, and walked out of the teahouse. She not only heard Keitaro's promise to Mutsumi, but as she was leaving she caught Keitaro confess that he was still making love to Mitsune. Motoko definitely couldn't stand to hear any more. As soon as she was safely clear of the teahouse doorway, she burst into tears and ran down the beach, crying all the way.

Meanwhile, there was another, even longer uncomfortable pause between Keitaro and Mutsumi after she said, "I see." Belatedly realizing other people sitting around them might hear what was turning into an unexpectedly personal conversation, Keitaro suggested, "Why don't we, uh, walk outside for a minute and continue talking there?"

So they went out onto the busy beach. They wandered between clumps of people lying on sand as they made their way towards the water. Motoko was already long gone.

Mutsumi seemed sad, but resigned. She said, "I don't care about you and Mitsune, because you don't have strong feelings for her, do you? Isn't it just a purely physical thing between you two?"

Keitaro thought about that. _I like her a lot, but I don't love her. Not in that way. _"Yes. I think so. … Yes."

Mutsumi took Keitaro's hand in her own. "I know how scheming Mitsune is, and how new and exciting physical love must be to you. It must be really hard to resist. But I also know that once you have a formal girlfriend, you'll be fiercely loyal to her. That's the kind of person you are."

"You think so?" he asked, doubting himself. "I'm touched by your confidence in me. I'm not sure if I'm such a good guy, actually. I'm feeling pretty down about myself today."

"I noticed." They walked with their arms around each other's shoulders. "But I'm here for you. Once we get back, everything will be different, and better. … Frankly, I'm much more worried about Motoko-chan. The three of us had a lot of fun on the nude beach the other day, but I also saw how you look at her. It's not just a lustful look; it's a deep, caring look too. I told you this already, but I worry that you love her more than me, and that I'm going to end up 'the other woman,' just like with Naru."

He sighed a very heavy sigh. "You're right. I have to be honest to my feelings. But it's not that I love her more than you, it's that I can't make up my mind. If you and I started dating when we got back, I'd always be looking over my shoulder at Motoko, wondering about the path not taken, haunted that maybe I didn't make the right decision."

By this point they had reached the water's edge, and they stopped and faced each other, once again hand in hand. He continued, "I know I made a promise that we'd date, and I'd like to keep that promise. I'm excited at the idea. Very excited. But what if, for a while, we try open dating? Test the waters, and be allowed to see other people? A lot of people our age do that kind of thing. I think I spoke rashly making that promise before, because my heart is not made up."

Mutsumi stared at him for a long time, looking deeply into his eyes, searching to read his emotions. Finally, she said, "I see. I should have known. If I'm going to win my place in your heart, it's not going to be as easy as just holding you to your promise. I'll have to overcome your feelings for Motoko, and maybe Mitsune too. That's not a quick or easy thing, because they're both such lovely people."

She paused again, and looked at him with intense concern. "Okay. So be it. We can try your idea for a time. Otherwise you will be haunted, and never fully committed. But don't take too long! I feel so unsettled too. I'm so worried about you. Worried about you and Motoko. Worried about you and Mitsune. I could already tell you've been sleeping with her lately. I'm at least glad you had the honesty to admit it when I brought it up."

Keitaro hugged Mutsumi tight. "Thank you for understanding! You're just so nice; so accepting and caring! You're too good for me. I feel like such a loser today. It's like every time I try to be nice to one person, I end up hurting someone else. But you understand everything. And I'm so sorry! So very sorry about everything!"

As an afterthought, he added, "With Mitsune, it's not just that I can't control my urges, though that's part of it. It's like there's something more going on there. Like a form of communication or something."

Mutsumi's eyes opened wide at hearing that. "That's what worries me!"

He kissed her on the forehead, but she didn't kiss back. They soon said goodbye, and Keitaro decided to take a long walk alone. He was emotionally exhausted than physically exhausted but too wound up to sleep. He just wanted the day to be over already.

**  
Chapter Fifty-Four: Nothing Left to Lose**

After hearing Mutsumi and Keitaro speak, Motoko ran straight to her hotel room. She grasped her sword and slashed it through the air, desperately wanting to cut something or someone. Even as she cried, she fumed with a diffuse anger, at herself as much as anyone.

But her small room on the third floor of the hotel couldn't contain her restless spirit. She went out into the hallway and paced up and down it endlessly, sword slashing through the air. One random guest started to enter the third floor from the elevator, saw Motoko, and rapidly closed the elevator door.

Impulsively, Motoko stopped at Mitsune's door, at the end of the hall from hers, and pounded upon it. "Come out! Come out now!"

To her surprise, Mitsune did come to the door. Motoko was almost certain that Mitsune was off someplace else since it was early afternoon, and just wanted to beat on Mitsune's door to let her feelings out. But Mitsune had just settled down for a nap. She'd rushed to the door wearing only a towel loosely held in front of her, afraid there was something dangerous, like a fire. Mitsune's eyes looked even more closed than they usually did, since she was just waking up. But they opened completely wide as she fully digested Motoko's presence.

Motoko glowered at her and swept into the room. "YOU!" she cried out. "It's your fault as much as anybody's!" She stood apart from Mitsune, but the pointed sword covered most of the distance between them.

"What?" Mitsune asked in utter confusion. "What did I do?"

"You built my hopes up! Made me think I had a chance with him! Liar! No chance! I have no chance!"

"Put that thing down before you hurt somebody. Probably me. Your training is supposed to allow you to control your emotions, so calm down!"

Motoko reluctantly put the sword down on a table. She'd felt comfortable with the sword in her hand and felt naked without it. She felt even more naked since she was wearing a bikini and didn't even have a sheath to put the sword in. She used some breathing techniques to calm down.

"Now tell me just what happened," Mitsune said calmly. Motoko explained the whole situation.

As Motoko talked, her anger came back, but this time directed at Keitaro. Yet when she got to the end where he confessed to having slept with Mitsune, Motoko's wrath turned to the friend in front of her. She pounded Mitsune like a drum with her fists, but the blows were soft and short, more like the wailing arms of a petulant and crying baby than an attempt to do harm.

Finally all of Motoko's energy drained out of her, and she just sat silent. Mitsune embraced her, even though her towel had fallen off by this time. They didn't care about such trivial things as nakedness at this point.

Mitsune tried to make Motoko feel better. Now that she could get a word in edgewise, she commented, "Just a minute. Did you hear Keitaro actually agree that he would be dating Mutsumi? Or did he try not to answer?"

"I guess the lying, cheating, perverted scum was too busy drowning in the bile of his lies and broken promises to quickly answer." Needless to say, Motoko's vocal tone was beyond bitter.

"So you don't really know what's going on between them, do you?"

"No, but I do know you're sleeping with him, still!"

"But that's a good thing!" Mitsune said with a positive smile. "If he were as serious about Mutsumi as you think, why would he still be sleeping with me? It shows he's confused and indecisive. Typical Keitaro."

"Hey! Stop trying to make me feel better with your twisted logic. I give up. First, I'm going to kill him, for seeing me walk around naked all day. Then, I'm going to pick up the pieces and kill him again for pretending to be a wonderful guy when his heart is really filled with blackness. Then…"

"Oh come on," Mitsune said, giggling a bit. "'Heart is filled with blackness'? Isn't that just a little bit melodramatic?"

Motoko rolled her eyes in frustration at being chided, but conceded the point.

Mitsune pressed on. "You know that song, what it is called… Oh yeah. 'Me and Bobby McGee'?"

"No. I'm not much for Western music."

"Well, in that song, there's the line, 'Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.' Think about that. If you're so convinced that you've lost to Mutsumi, then what do you have to lose? Why not just completely throw yourself out there, and give it all you've got? If you lose, you were going to lose anyways. And if you don't try, then you'll always wonder if maybe you would have done something else, things might have been different." She looked at Motoko's still smoldering eyes and added, "That is, if you're still interested in him."

"A big if!" Motoko said in a huff. She separated herself from Mitsune's hug and folded her arms under her bikini top, staring away defiantly.

"Well, are you still interested in him or not? Because if you're not, you should be the one giving me the advice. I'm still going to pursue him until the bitter end. I don't care about the odds. I'm going to keep trying."

Motoko was glad she was looking away already as she forced herself to say, "You know the answer. I must be certifiably insane. The shame of the family!"

"Don't say that. Your sister likes him and even tried to force you two to marry. Besides, your cause is not lost. Do you have any idea how he looks at you? I wish he looked at me like that. You're definitely still in the running, so just relax. Go all out. Like you've got nothing left to lose."

Motoko turned around and looked at Mitsune. Realizing the other girl was still naked, she quickly turned back and thrust her arms high in the air in a gesture of frustration, like she was imploring God for a favor. "What can I do? I am who I am, and I'm not Mutsumi. Maybe it's for the best, anyway. Maybe he would be bad for me in the long run. Maybe I'm meant just to run the dojo, and live alone for the rest of my life."

Mitsune picked up her fallen towel and wrapped it firmly around herself. Then she walked across the room and opened a drawer. She pulled out a red bikini. She held it up. "I bought this for you recently. I want you to wear it."

"But I'm already wearing a bikini. Even as we speak, to my continual shame."

Mitsune wagged a finger playfully. "That's the kind of attitude I don't want to hear. Technically, you're wearing a bikini, in that your bathing suit is a two-piece. But it's black and so conservatively cut. It's like a ninja bikini."

"Hey! Black is my favorite color!"

"And you'll look good in some things black, like a strapless dress. But try this on. This'll turn his head for sure, and make him forget all about her."

Motoko took the red bikini and held it up. It was more of a thong than a bikini, covering virtually nothing in the back. "But, but … that's almost the same as being nude! It makes even the one you wear look old-fashioned!"

"Where's your nothing left to lose attitude? I didn't take you for a quitter."

Motoko gave Mitsune an exasperated look. "Arrgh. What difference does it make. Like a bikini is going to decide the issue." But she went to the bathroom to change.

Motoko left a short while later, after yet more encouraging talk from Mitsune. She felt a lot better, and left with more resolve.

Mitsune lay back on her bed and wondered. _What am I DOING? I think I'm living vicariously through Motoko, in a strange way. Like that advice I gave her: act like you have nothing left to lose. Why aren't I doing that with myself? I'm holding back. Not sexually, that's for damn sure, but emotionally. I like to help Motoko because she's the opposite of me: she's so emotional and lets you know how she feels, even though it's usually unintentionally and against her will. Whereas nobody knows how I really feel. Nobody. _

She wallowed in self-pity until she cried herself back to sleep. She was completely drained, as if she'd given all of her energy and optimism to Motoko and had none left for herself.

**  
Chapter Fifty-Five: Desperate Times**

Later that afternoon a much calmer Motoko ran into Keitaro. He was just sitting around the beach teahouse, looking glum. She commented that he must be getting rusty on his kendo practice because he hadn't been regularly practicing since they'd arrived at the beach. That wasn't exactly true, as she'd been practicing with him on sword parts for the play, but it made a good excuse for them to do something together. They held an impromptu practice inside a remote grove of trees just off of the beach.

Motoko was in her natural element, and loved every moment. So did Keitaro. They were clicking in every way: not just their practice moves, which were going flawlessly, but they just seemed to be in perfect harmony about everything, giddy at each other's presence. Motoko remembered why she loved him so much in the first place, flaws and all, and redoubled her desire to win him.

Throwing caution to the wind, she practiced in her new, skimpy, red bikini, and saw that in fact it really did affect the way he looked at her. He also practiced in nothing but his bathing suit. Frequently they ended their skirmishes pressed against each other, their sweaty skin rubbing and faces blushing. On several occasions their mouths drew close and Motoko thought for sure they would kiss. But then one or the other would suddenly remember they were in a semi-public place, and pull back. But the sensations and temptations were glorious.

The practice ended all too soon, and they parted. Her giddiness fled as quickly as it had come, and Motoko was left feeling very alone. Though her desperate resolve remained, it didn't stop her earlier doubts from resurfacing. She wandered the beach boardwalk listlessly, dressed in nothing but her thong-like bikini and carrying the sheathed sword for comfort. Her athletic and shapely body drew whistles and stares everywhere she went, and even more so because of the red bikini. But she was more used to such attention now after so many days at the beach.

Fairly far down the beach, she ran across Suu in the parking lot just next to the boardwalk. Motoko was very puzzled at Suu, because she saw her was transferring all kinds of things from a dumpster-sized container into a large van. Motoko walked right up to Suu and said hello.

Suu clearly wasn't too excited about seeing a familiar face. She seemed very secretive, but reluctantly let Motoko look into the container. It was filled with all of the things Suu had put into the open pavilion she'd set up for Keitaro the night before. Now that she'd promised to Keitaro not to tempt him anymore, she had no more use for these things. No more use in the near future anyways - she was far from certain she wouldn't try something similar at some later date.

Motoko, though, didn't know anything about what had transpired on the beach between Suu and Keitaro. She poked through Suu's possessions, asking her what this was, where that came from, and so on. It was more interesting than wandering about aimlessly while being spied by too many leering eyes.

Motoko eventually noticed a whole bunch of bottles. She could see the bottles contained a wide variety of drinks. Feeling suddenly thirsty, she asked if she could drink from one.

She was quite surprised at Suu's reaction. First, a loud "No!" and then a contrite, guilty look. Yet still a firm no.

Motoko easily put two and two together. _The full, red moon last night; all this stuff she's got here, like some kind of portable sultan's palace. That must be more of that aphrodisiac everyone's been talking about!_

_That stuff has been sitting in the refrigerator at the Hinata Inn for too many days, tempting us all. And now, here it is again. Mitsune, you told me I should throw caution to the wind, and just go for it. Well, I'm going to go for it!_

Suu was carrying loads to and from the van. Since Motoko was over a meter away from the love potion bottles, Suu wasn't too concerned about Motoko stealing any of them, as she figured she would notice if Motoko walked clear around the container to reach them. But she didn't count on Motoko's sword. With Suu's back turned, Motoko quickly unsheathed her sword, knocked a bottle up into the air with a quick flick of the sword's tip, and then caught the bottom of the bottle in the air with her sword and let it slide down the sword and into her hands. The bottle was safely behind her back within seconds.

Motoko soon excused herself and made her way back to her room. She felt guilty from stealing, not to mention more moral qualms about the particular item she was stealing, but she was also tremendously excited and nervous at the prospects the stolen item offered_. I don't have the romantic confidence to just go and throw myself at Keitaro. This love potion is my last chance; not to give some to him, but to give some to myself, and see if he's really interested in me. And with the play happening tomorrow on our last night here, my only chance is to use it tonight!_


	10. Part 10

**The Kiss That Never Was, Part Ten**

**Chapter Fifty-Six: Light My Fire**

The day before the play was supposed to be the group's last rest day, and Keitaro actually did manage to enjoy himself, with windsurfing, castle-making, and emotionally satisfying conversations. But some of the others still wanted to work on the play. Suu for instance worked on special effects for much of the afternoon. Seta helped Mitsune practice her sword fighting skills, as she wasn't a natural fighter and still had a long ways to go. They spent much of the afternoon at it, and kept going into the early evening.

As they practiced, Seta and Mitsune bonded in a way they hadn't in a long time. As the practice continued, a sexual tension started to grow. This was the work of Mitsune, who had flashbacks to when she was a high school student and had a deep crush on him. She discovered that if she fell, or pretended to fall, he would catch her before she hit the sand, and she would end up cradled in his arms. She liked that a lot, and found herself falling constantly.

It wasn't that she'd given up on Keitaro, but she was brutally realistic. She knew her odds with Keitaro were low, and saw no harm in having a backup plan. In a way, it was just another opportunity to scheme and flirt, which she loved to do.

Seta though, while he was enjoying her presence and reconnecting with her emotionally, appeared to be immune to her physical charms. She always thought him a bit slow on the uptake in that department. In that way, he was like an older version of Keitaro. Both of them needed a slap in the face to begin to notice that a female had any interest in them.

Haruka on the other hand was much more observant. She could see what Mitsune was up to right away and even from a distance, thanks to all the falls into Seta's arms. She herself had very mixed feelings about Seta. Earlier in the summer he'd all but asked for her hand in marriage, but she turned him down. Well, not exactly. She didn't say yes and she didn't say no. Frankly, she'd gone so long without a romantic spark in her life that she'd become used to it, and was afraid of change. And Seta had let her down before, many years ago. Seta too was not the kind of man to push, especially after some tumultuous things in their long-past relationship.

Given that it was the last night before the play, everyone wanted to party and go out with a bang. Keitaro was still feeling a bit moody and tired, but after dinner he found his energies reviving. It wasn't exactly clear how they would celebrate their last free evening at the beach, but it was clear that whatever happened, it would involve lots of drinking.

However, there was a lot of tension. Haruka was mad at Seta for spending so much time with a flirty Mitsune, when really she should have been upset with Mitsune. Haruka had a certain passive aggressive way with him that let her displeasure be known without overtly saying or doing anything particularly mean.

Meanwhile, Mitsune, Motoko, and Mutsumi were all nervous about how they could advance their cause with Keitaro on this important night. Motoko was the most nervous of all, because she had the bottle of aphrodisiac and didn't know what to do with it. She'd resolved to use it, but had to get Keitaro alone first, and there was no easy chance for that. Everyone wanted to party in one big group, and it was hard to envision any good time for two people to sneak off alone, even if Motoko could come up with a reasonable excuse to tear him away, which she could not. She decided to play it by ear.

So she snuck the bottle of love potion in a remote and high shelf in the kitchen while she looked for the right opportunity to use it. She'd sniffed it and determined it was spiked sake, which she considered a really fortunate break. Getting Keitaro to drink more sake on this evening would be no problem, if only she could get him alone. She figured her best chance was late in the evening. Cleverly, she told Mitsune that she would allow her to be freed from her drinking ban for this one evening, since it was such a special evening. Mitsune happily agreed.

_Mutsumi and Mitsune are both heavy drinkers,_ thought Motoko._ I'm not. Especially with Mitsune not having drunk any alcohol in a while, she's likely to go a little overboard. All I have to do is endure and stay awake. And I'll have to avoid drinking much myself, since I don't know my own limits. Once everyone else is passed out or is close to it, I can do something like offer to help Keitaro walk back to the hotel. We can share one final drink of sake under the stars, just him and me. And of course, I'll use the specially spiked sake. Then, taking him back to his room where he sleeps all alone, who knows what will happen? I don't want to go too far - I'm not ready. But maybe we can go just far enough to make him forget about the others._

The group never left the teahouse after dinner, but dinner just dissolved into a drinking session. Everyone was there, including Shirai, Haitani, and several other employees at the teahouse, both male and female. Their mutual acquaintance Kentaro also appeared from Tokyo for the drinking. He was handsome, rich, arrogant, and shallow. He'd been Keitaro's occasional competitor for Narusegawa's affections, though nothing much had come of his efforts. He'd been a part of the beach play the year before, but hadn't been invited back, since most everyone saw through him now. But he knew the play was coming up, and wormed his way back into the group.

At first, they started with the usual Japanese drinking games. For instance, one person would stand up and hold a glass of sake up high. Everyone else would chant and pound the table until the person swallowed the glass in one gulp. Then there'd be a big cheer, and the next person would go.

Everyone got drunk very quickly this way, because there was no way to avoid drinking when one's turn came around.

Sara didn't drink, so she grew bored quickly. By nine-thirty Seta decided it was Sara's bedtime, and she retired without much protest. Seta accompanied her back to the hotel and decided to just stay there and get an early night as well, since Haruka was in such a bad mood.

The others also faded early until the only ones left were Haitani, Haruka, Keitaro, Kentaro, Mitsune, Motoko, Mutsumi, Shinobu, Shirai, and Suu.

Kentaro, always slick and conniving, wanted to move the group to a more romantic locale. He convinced everyone to move to the beach just in front of the teahouse, where there was a fire ring so one could have a bonfire. There was plenty of wood in the teahouse storage room. Within minutes they sat in a circle around a roaring fire. The males all sat on one side and the females all on the other. Haruka sat up next to the fire but a few feet from both groups, as if she was the referee between them.

The sky was free of clouds, so thousands of stars and a (non-red) full moon could be seen. Kentaro broke out a guitar and the group sang songs for a while, increasing everyone's pleasure and relaxation. He'd also brought marshmallows, and soon those were roasting over the fire on sticks.

Once everyone started to get fairly sloshed, Shirai and Haitani again started pushing the same idea they'd been pushing ever since they'd gotten to the beach: more flirtatious drinking games that might give them a foot in the door with any of the beautiful Hinata Inn women. Shirai started it. "Anyone want to try a game of Spin the Bottle?" That was his favorite game. He added, nervously, "Maybe Truth or Dare?"

There was a brief silence, but then everyone laughed. Keitaro said, "Come on, you've got to be kidding." Shirai was crestfallen - it was clear everyone thought his idea silly.

They went back to more singing and the same drinking games they'd done inside. They drank sake. Lots of it. Motoko started to think that her aphrodisiac plan might just work. Just as she'd hoped, Mutsumi and Mitsune appeared to be drinking heavily, and Keitaro not so much. Meanwhile Motoko drank some but surreptitiously spilled her drinks onto the sand and only actually drank when she it was her turn to stand up and take a shot in front of everyone.

With so many drinking so much, there were frequent raids of the teahouse kitchen, in a search for more alcohol. On one of these raids, Kentaro found Motoko's bottle of aphrodisiac on a high shelf. Taking it for any other bottle of sake, he brought it back to the bonfire, and it was consumed along with all the other bottles. As they were still doing shots, every single person had a shot of the love potion, as it was passed around the fire from person to person. Some had two shots of it before the bottle was emptied.

It was one of the last bottles of sake found. When they ran out of sake, they moved to other types of alcohol. With all the drinking it was remarkable that everyone was still on their feet, but the interlude of singing songs allowed people to recover somewhat.

Within ten minutes of drinking the love potion, a subtle change came across the group, even though no one recognized it. By this point everyone was thoroughly blitzed anyways so people's inhibitions and alertness were already lowered. Any change in mood or behavior was likely to be attributed to all the drinking.

Shirai felt inspired to ask again about more risqué games. "Hey guys. What about my idea of Spin the Bottle? Or Truth or Dare? Or maybe strip poker?"

To even Shirai's surprise, now everyone seemed completely receptive to the idea. Keitaro nonchalantly asked the rest, "What do you think, guys? Which game sounds better?"

A consensus emerged around Truth or Dare. That would be the least risqué game. But everyone wanted to play one of the three.

Motoko found herself liking the idea of playing these games too, but in the back of her mind she thought it quite odd. _Did the nude beach experience change me that much? Here I am, just nodding dumbly when people are openly talking about playing strip poker? What am I thinking?_ She used her martial arts training to try and focus her mind and continue to think clearly. But at the same time she battled with the effects of the love potion and all the alcohol she had that fogged her brain.

Shirai spoke up and took charge. The lights of the dancing, raging fire flickered on his face. "Okay, the way this works is that we'll all play cards." He pulled out a card deck. "We can play poker." He hoped this could morph into strip poker. "Whoever gets the lowest hand has to choose between a truth or dare. Whoever gets the highest hand gets to pick what the truth or dare is exactly."

Shinobu piped up. "I don't know. It sounds scary. What if someone asks me to say or do something that I don't really want to do?"

Shirai wasn't very sympathetic. "Well then, quit the game if you don't want to play."

But then Keitaro gave his opinion. "No, let's be more reasonable. If anyone feels uncomfortable with anything, then don't do it. After all, we have some people here who some people might not feel that comfortable with." He pointedly looked at Shirai, Haitani, sitting directly to his left, and Kentaro, sitting directly to his right. "Here's an idea. If you don't like a particular truth or dare suggestion, then make your own counter suggestion. Or do a truth instead of a dare, since the dares are probably more scary."

"Okay," Shinobu replied, feeling less frightened by the idea now. But still, she and Suu seemed very out of place. The presence of a sixteen year old and fifteen year old at a risqué drinking game amongst grown ups seemed like a dubious idea at best. They looked at each other nervously. Even Suu wasn't sure she wanted to be a part of this, with Keitaro's three lecherous "friends" taking part.

Keitaro saw those worried looks, and felt the same worries himself. He said, "Here's another rule. None of us males can do anything that involve touching Shinobu or Suu in any way. Is that clear?"

Everyone nodded. The other males hardly minded this restriction, given all the other lovely females to be had. Shirai and Haitani looked at each other with excited eyes. Although they didn't say anything out loud for fear of frightening the rest, their looks to each other said, "Can this really be happening? Pinch me, I'm dreaming!"

Shirai was quite content if he could end up kissing Mitsune, Mutsumi, or Motoko. Kentaro was thinking along similar lines, and found himself particularly attracted to Mitsune. He thought she might be a kindred spirit - more jaded and conniving than the others. Haitani meanwhile continued his strange attraction to the older Haruka most of all. These males' brains were eagerly lustful at most any time, but with the aphrodisiac taking effect, they were practically panting with desire.

Keitaro was affected just as much as the other men. He'd resisted the love potion the night before with Suu because he was consciously aware of it and tried to fight it. But now he didn't realize what he had to fight. The women were growing excited too. Even the staid Haruka found herself getting excited. A smile crossed her usually jaded face as she gleefully looked forward to the game.

Shirai continued, "Okay then. If everyone is fine with the rules then, let the game begin!"

**  
Chapter Fifty-Seven: The Kiss That Never Should Have Been**

Since everyone was sitting around a large fire, there was no easy way for one person to deal the cards. The deck was handed around and each person took their cards and passed the deck on.

The first hand was played, and Mutsumi lost. She chose "Truth." Shirai had won, so he got to ask a question. He pondered his choices for a while.

Keitaro found his mind wandering as well. He asked himself, _Just what do you ask in these kinds of situations? I've never played this kind of game before. I know people my age do these kinds of things at parties, but it feels so strange. Somehow it feels wrong, with the likes of Shinobu around playboys like Kentaro. I feel like he could abuse my little sister before my eyes or something! So why am I playing this? What would I ask if I had to ask Shinobu or question? Or have her do a dare, God forbid? Or even Mutsumi? What would I ask Mutsumi if I were in Shirai's shoes right now? I hope I never lose or win._

Shirai had been pulling at his chin until a couple people started grumbling. Suddenly, he asked, "Mutsumi-san, would you please tell us about your first experience with sex?"

Mutsumi giggled, and said, "No! Next?"

"Wait!" Shirai complained. "If you don't like the question, Keitaro said you have to make a counter offer of another question or something."

"I didn't say I wouldn't answer. I gave you my answer. I've never been with a man in that way, so I can't tell you about my first experience. Sorry."

"But, but…" Shirai stammered. "But you're like twenty-two, and you're gorgeous! You mean… you're still a virgin?"

"Hey, that's personal," Keitaro butted in.

"It's alright," Mutsumi answered. "Yes, I am. Sorry to make you lose your question. I guess, if I interpret your question more broadly on what my first sexy experience was, that's easy. That was when I was in Okinawa and I kissed a very handsome man. It was so romantic. We were on the beach and under the stars, just like we are now. And he was such a great guy. He still is!" She very deliberately stared at Keitaro so everyone would know whom she meant, and overtly winked at him.

"Fair enough answer," Shirai admitted. "Sorry if I embarrassed you about the, uh, virginity, but I can't believe a woman as amazing as you hasn't…" Like most of the women there, Mutsumi was dressed in just her bikini. The sight of the fire glowing on her body and the lights of the ever -hanging fire casting different shadows upon her was about the most tantalizing sight Shirai had ever seen. He felt himself aroused - powerfully aroused. The idea of Mutsumi being a virgin seemed preposterously unbelievable to him at that moment. It was like expecting to believe that Aphrodite were a virgin. He stared at her as if he were lost in a daze, until Haitani kicked him. He snapped out of it and muttered, "Oh, never mind. Let's play another hand."

The cards were dealt and Motoko lost. Shinobu won, so Motoko knew she needn't worry about being pushed too far with a question or dare. She decided to get a dare out of the way early, so she wouldn't look chicken later. "Dare."

Shinobu was as lost as Keitaro was in thinking about what kind of dare to give. But she thought_, It's all my fault that Sempai and Motoko aren't already together. Sempai said that I should try to undo what I did, and maybe here's my chance. On the other hand, it would hurt me to see them to do something together. But maybe that's the punishment I deserve. Wait, I know something that would help and wouldn't be too painful to watch. _"Motoko-san, would it be alright if you change positions and sit next to Sempai so you could hug him?"

Motoko was very pleasantly surprised. Her face lit up, but then she realized she shouldn't appear so eager. _I'm just lucky Shinobu picked Keitaro and not someone like Haitani._ She shuddered at the thought of Haitani kissing and groping her. _If that happens, I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm certainly not going to let one of those guys touch me, even though I feel so strangely … aroused. Is it the thought of being alone with Keitaro later that's making me this way? That must be it. Maybe this is the night things will really happen between us - it's only natural I'd be feeling like this._

Motoko got up from the side of the fire where the females were all huddled, and moved in between the males to be with Keitaro. She snuggled up next to him, draping her arm around his shoulder. He put his arm around her as well, and they touched skin to skin all over, as they were both wore only a bathing suit and bikini between them. Keitaro tenderly ran his hand through Motoko's hair, and she shivered with delight at his casual and loving touch. It was just like they were a couple already. She wished the game would freeze in place and the two of them could stay content like that for the rest of the evening. But the game went on.

Kentaro lost the next hand and Suu won. He boldly asked for a dare. Suu thought to herself, _What do I care about this guy? The little I know of him, he seems like an insufferable jerk. If only I could have a truth or dare with Keitaro! But as for this guy, I just wish he'd get lost…_

That gave her an idea. "Kentaro, your challenge is to run into the ocean and stay there as long as possible. Ten minutes at least."

Kentaro stood up and bowed with a flourish. "As your lady commands." He ran off into the water without further ado. Suu laughed inwardly - he thought he was proving himself or some such thing. But at the same time, her arousal continued to grow, along with everyone else. Not even she realized it was the aphrodisiac working, since the idea of someone spiking everyone's drink seemed so improbable and senseless.

Haitani lost the next hand, and Shirai won it. Haitani said, "Dare!" Then he looked at his friend with a pleading face, and even put his hands together in prayer as he stared, trying to force him to read his mind.

Shirai knew exactly what his friend wanted, strange though he thought it to be. "Haitani, old friend, I dare you to kiss Haruka. On the lips."

Haitani thrust his arms into the air in triumph. "Yes! There is a God! Thank you, brother, thank you!"

Haruka had been sitting quietly with an unreadable expression, as was her wont. But now her mouth dropped open in surprise, and the ever-present cigarette dangling at her lip fell to the ground. "Can you do that?" she asked in genuine disbelief. "Is that allowed?"

Keitaro, who felt very protective of all the females, said, "You don't have to do anything you don't want to, you know. Just tell him to get lost!"

Haruka considered. _If I do this, word will get back to Seta, and he'll feel sorry for flirting with Mitsune all day long. Not only that, but this guy has been trailing after me this whole week like some kind of lost puppy dog. One kiss won't hurt. It'll probably be the highlight of his life._

"It's alright, Keitaro. What the hell. Go ahead, Haitani, if you want." She closed her eyes, not really believing what she'd just said. She waited expectantly for the kiss.

Haitani and Shirai engaged in an elaborate variety of high five slaps, but they were done with that in seconds and then Haitani was upon Haruka. He dipped her down and kissed her passionately, like someone who really knew he was doing with women and not like the dumpy, bespectacled, and awkward kid he appeared to be.

Haruka opened her eyes in surprise as she was bent backwards with the teenager upon her. Not only was Haitani a surprisingly passionate kisser, but the aphrodisiac and alcohol was working on them both. With every passing minute, every person in the group continued to grew more aroused. Wrapping her arms around him, Haruka parted her lips and kissed back feverishly. The kiss went on and on. When it finally ended, the two of them gasped for air and then flew back at each other, kissing with ever more fervor.

Everyone else around the fire stared in near total incomprehension. Haitani's crush on Haruka was only known to a few, like Shirai and Keitaro, and even those who knew about that could scarcely believe the jaded Haruka would respond so vigorously. Now the two were making out like their lives depended on it, hands flying all over each other.

Mouths hung open, and people looked to each other to confirm they weren't dreaming. But the sight of two people making out so enthusiastically only fuelled the fires burning inside each person. The eyes of all the remaining women without exception stared at Keitaro hungrily, while Shirai eyed Mutsumi and Kentaro eyed Mitsune.

**  
Chapter Fifty-Eight: Motoko's Reward**

Motoko had been too happy snuggling up to Keitaro to think much or try to fight the alcohol and aphrodisiac conquering her brain. But the sight of Haitani and Haruka shocked some awareness into her. _That should not be happening. This cannot be. In fact, this whole game shouldn't be happening at all. There's no way that Haruka, of her own free will… Wait a minute. What if she's under the spell of the aphrodisiac? What if we all are?!? Look at everyone - smiling stupidly and admiring the kiss. It's like we're a bunch of horny zombies. The bottle! Someone must have found the bottle I hid back in the teahouse and… Oh no!_

It took all of her mental energy pull herself free of Keitaro and to stand up. But then her mind seemed to clear a bit with Keitaro no longer draped over her. "Excuse me Keitaro, I'll be back in a second." She ran off to the teahouse to look for her hidden bottle.

Flying into the kitchen, she opened the cabinet she'd put the bottle in and discovered it gone._ I knew it! All my plans are ruined! It serves me right for trying to trick Keitaro and win him in this underhanded way. But what am I going to do? Everyone back there is getting more aroused by the second - I can feel it inside me too. And the drunkenness! There's going to be one giant orgy on the beach unless someone does something fast. If the likes of Shirai or Kentaro end up with anybody, it'll be bad. Look at Haitani and Haruka already. Disaster! But what am I going to do? I'm the only one who knows!_

By this time she was at the front of the teahouse again. Not very far in front of her was the bonfire and the circle of drugged friends. They were continuing the game without her. She could hear laughing, and saw Mitsune stand up. Mitsune pranced around seductively as if she were doing a striptease - which she was. She slowly and sexily took her bikini top off and threw it carelessly away. Then, to the sound of hooting and clapping, she took a bow and sat back down.

Motoko looked on in horror._ Worse and worse! I have to do something fast! But what?_ Motoko thought to what Keitaro did with Suu the night before, and how he tricked her with his Frankenstein impression. Their red moon encounter was supposed to be a secret, but it was already common knowledge amongst the gossipy Hinata Inn gang. _Something like that. I need to do something exactly like that. Scare them with a ghost, maybe? No. No time to prepare a charade like that. _She saw that back around the fire another hand of cards was being dealt out. _Well, there is my reputation as the violent and moralistic swordswoman. I'll have to utilize that. _She hurried back into the teahouse and pulled her sword out of another hiding place. It was never far from her, even when she was dressed only in a bikini. She rushed back to the fire.

She dramatically appeared standing above all of them, with her legs spread wide and her arms over her head, holding the sword up high. "Listen! Listen all of you!"

Haitani and Haruka were still ardently necking and in fact had been kissing nonstop ever since they'd begun, stopping only to occasionally catch their breath. Mitsune was still topless and now sitting next to Keitaro, shamelessly flirting with him. The only thing holding her back was the fact that Mutsumi was on his other side and also vying for his attention. Kentaro was soaking wet and just walking back from the ocean. He was the only one who didn't appear to have eyes crazed with lust - no doubt the bracingly cold water had cooled his passions some. In fact, he looked a bit confused at how the others were acting. Even Shinobu sat back with her mouth open and eyes half closed, as if she was waiting for any man to walk up and kiss her.

"Listen!" Motoko shouted again. The blissed out, very drunken crowd slowly focused their attention upon the tall and skinny but nonetheless extremely angry and imposing swordswoman. "This game has gone on enough! Look at Haruka and Haitani! You all have lost your senses! This is coming to an end right now, like it or not! _Secret Art: Midnight Moon Shadow!_"

Motoko's arm swung down, driving the sword directly towards the fire. The bonfire exploded into sparks and high flame, and everyone was blown clear from it. They all flew away from Motoko and bounced and rolled over the sands towards the ocean. Motoko slashed down again and again, and each time the group was carried farther away from her, like a cluster of tumbleweeds being blown away in a hurricane. She was purposely directing them towards the ocean, hoping that a cold splash into the water would snap them out of their erotic haze.

It was fifty meters from the bonfire to the water's edge. The group hit the shallows of the cold, dark ocean and still they flew further into the deeper waters. Motoko continued to slash at individual targets, not content to stop until everyone was thoroughly drenched.

Finally, with everyone in several feet of water, some sputtering and thrashing about in the shallow waves, Motoko stopped and fell the ground. She was completely drained. She had used all of her energies, and had nothing left. In the process she had blown the large fire completely out, and only the embers still glowed as a multitude of sparks flew off into the sky.

Everyone else picked themselves up from the water, some helping others find their feet. Nobody appeared to be hurt or in any danger of drowning. They all stared at Motoko in shock and amazement. Keitaro thought about Motoko, as he moved to assist Mitsune, _One minute she was cuddling up against me, content as a kitten, and the next it's like the fury of the Gods is raining down upon us! What the heck? Has she gone mad? I know she's attacked me enough times, but she's never done anything like this! She even attacked Haruka!_

He looked over and saw Haruka sitting in the water. Haitani helped her up, and the two clutched at each other for support. Haruka gaped in amazement at Motoko.

Even though Motoko was now on her knees and panting from exhaustion, no one wanted to stick around and see if another attack was forthcoming. Motoko's reaction seemed so extreme, even for her, that each person wondered if something of inside her had snapped. Every drenched person looked from one face to another, and then almost as one they bolted towards the direction of the hotel. A sort of instinctual fight or flight instinct took over in each person, driving their erotic moods nearly clean away. They scampered up the long flight of stairs towards the hotel. The group slowly broke apart as some flew to their rooms faster than others.

Keitaro thought about staying behind and risking Motoko's wrath, perhaps after she'd been given some time to calm down. But he decided that his first responsibility was to make sure that everyone got back to their rooms safely. While Motoko's attack was very sobering, some in the group were so drunk that there was less running and more staggering once everyone was safely clear of Motoko.

Motoko remained on her knees before the extinguished fire, and looked down into the sand forlornly long after the others had gone. _I suppose that was necessary. I did what I had to do in order to undo my stupidity in trying to use the love potion. I have a feeling that potion is cursed. I couldn't just come out and tell everyone that they'd been drugged, because that would have revealed my duplicity with Keitaro. So now he's going to think I'm a freak. A crazy, violent, prudish woman._

_But what's even more frustrating is that I'm still completely aroused! Holding Keitaro tightly before the fire like that - I was just about to completely let myself go. Maybe I would have melted in his arms into a passionate kiss like that strange Haitani Haruka pairing. I was so close! And once the shock of the attack and the cold water is over, the others no doubt will still feel the buzz of the love potion, back in their rooms. That potion is far too strong for anyone's good._

She looked out over the sands, scanning the ground carefully with her razor sharp eyesight. _A-ha. As I figured. Mitsune's bikini top is still here. I wonder how she got back into the hotel, as she must be topless. I'll bet she's using her nakedness as an excuse to get special help from Keitaro. Probably even as I sit here, the two are bursting into Keitaro's room and are going to go at it like bunny rabbits. With the love potion still working, he's bound to end up with someone, and that would probably be the least bad outcome for me. Meanwhile, I'm all alone. Again. I've lost out again. But this time, I have no one to blame but myself. Stupid! Why can't I trust my own charms and instead feel the need to cheat? But let's face it. I can't compete with the likes of Mutsumi._

With heavy head, she got up and glumly marched back to the hotel.

**  
Chapter Fifty-Nine: Behind the Fox Eyes**

Mitsune yawned, instinctively stretching out to turn off the alarm clock next to her bed as she did every morning. She fumbled about but encountered nothing but empty air. Then she realized there was no alarm going off and that she was reaching across the body of a man to find the clock. It further dawned on her that she wasn't in her room at all, and wasn't even at the Hinata Inn.

Mitsune drew her arm back in and opened her eyes (though a person watching wouldn't have been able to tell the difference). A contented smile crossed her face as she remembered whom she was with. Her body was spooned up against Keitaro in his hotel room, and she snuggled even closer to him. He continued to sleep, and in fact the first lights of dawn were only beginning to brighten the sky.

_That was some night last night,_ she thought with fond remembrance. _I don't know what it was: the fire, the stars, the moon, the songs, the game, the wine - maybe everything put together. The excitement from Motoko's strange freak out? I don't know. But hot damn, did we get passionate! Keitaro made love to me like a man possessed. Kind of like how Haitani and Haruka were getting it on, now that I think about it. Boy, was that bizarre! Just when you think you have people pegged…_

_Mmm. I just love it here, feeling my arms over his chest, pressing my whole body against him. He's my… my… My what, exactly? I wish I could have some affectionate name - my darling, my tiger, my snuggle bunny - anything. But I can't even call him my boyfriend. What am I? Lover of the moment? Friend with benefits? Whatever it is, it's not really much when you come right down to it. If I gave him an affectionate name, it would be far too forward of me. I don't even call him Kei-kun._

_Last night was great, there's no doubt about that. He's becoming a regular Don Juan. Who would have thunk it? Nerdy, clumsy, groping Keitaro? He's changing, that's for sure. But what am I to him really, aside from his teacher, his initiator into the world of sex?_

She carefully withdrew from him so she could sit up and look down onto his face. She pushed the blankets and sheets away from them both, and then sat up naked over his naked body. _What a handsome man. When he's without his glasses like this, he's practically a hunk. I love him so much. The only reason I was playing around with Seta yesterday is because I know that this is as good as it's going to get - I'm not going to end up with him. Not even close._

_The thing is, he doesn't know me. Sure, he knows my body; he loves my body. But he doesn't really know me any more than before we started doing this. I want him to know the real me that I keep hidden deep inside. But I hold back. Why?_

She regarded him more closely. Then she lay back down and snuggled up against him, trying to drive away a growing depression by latching onto him even more tightly. _It's like I've already admitted defeat. I've been playing to lose this whole time; agreeing to tutor Motoko. In helping Motoko out, I've been living my dreams through her. I've been telling her to do the things that I should be doing, because I can't open myself up emotionally, and she can. She loves him so much that she's willing to put herself out on a limb, in a very vulnerable spot. If she falls, she's going to fall hard. Mutsumi too. It's clear they both love him and have eyes for no other. But I have a safety net of never really opening up, never really letting Keitaro get under my skin. I always have some scheme going, like this plan B with Seta._

_But I love him! I love him as much as those two do! And yet here I am, making love, wild, amazing, spine-tingling love all night long, and I feel like I'm losing ground to those two who have only occasionally kissed him. _

She let out a heavy sigh that was close to a sob.

"Something wrong?" Keitaro rolled over so he could look her in the face.

"You're awake already?" she asked.

"How could I not be? You were practically squeezing me to death."

"Oh. Sorry." Mitsune released her tight grip upon him. More affectionately, she kissed him on the forehead. "Good morning, lover."

He kissed her back. Soon they were kissing on the lips, even though both of them felt and looked like something the cat dragged in. The effect of the aphrodisiac was long gone, but the alcohol remained in the form of a nasty hangover. She thought, _"Lover." I like the sound of that. I wish I could call him "My love" and that it would really be true._

Again she squeezed him, holding onto him like a life preserver. _Don't get up just yet_, _Keitaro. _But she didn't speak to him, she just thought to herself. _Stay with me just a little longer, so I can still pretend we're really boyfriend and girlfriend._

Keitaro blinked groggily. Something seemed wrong. Mitsune usually made playful remarks or teased him mildly when they woke up together. She was never quiet like this. And the way she was latched onto him, it was almost like she was afraid that if she let go, she'd go tumbling from the bed.

Managing to snatch his glasses from the nightstand, Keitaro slid them over his eyes and opened his mouth to ask Mitsune if she planned on letting him up. He caught himself, however, when he noticed something that was most definitely wrong: there were tears at the corners of Mitsune's eyes.

"Kitsune, are you okay? Did I do something to hurt you?"

From the way he was examining her face, she realized she must have been showing her tears. She wiped them away with a hand, and tried to put up a false bravado of happiness. "No, you're great. Last night was great. Everything's great. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. It's only Kitsune we're talking about here, after all."

As she said that last sentence, an overwhelming feeling of worthlessness came over her, and burst out with those words and a new outburst of crying. She buried her face into his shoulder and sobbed uncontrollably.

Keitaro was at a loss. He tentatively tried to calmly stroke back and the hair on her head. No woman had ever cried like this upon him before. He had no idea why she was doing it, and what he should do in response.

"Kitsune, Kitsune! Please! Don't cry! Whatever I did, I'm really, really sorry! Please forgive me! Whatever it was, I'm so -" He was cut off again as Mitsune put her fingers over his lips, silencing him.

His natural instinct to take the blame amused her enough to stifle her tears and even bring a brief, wan smile to her face. "It's not that. It's not you." She sniffled, and brushed her tears away again, but they continued to flow. "It's just that I feel terrible for doing this to you. I'm just making it more confusing for you to figure out whom it is you really love. I'm standing in your way, between you and your true love. I'm so selfish to use you this way."

She couldn't say what she was really feeling; that she really did care about his love. She cared a lot. Instead, she tried to imply it was fine with her if he didn't love her and that maybe they should part.

"That's not true!" insisted Keitaro. He grabbed her shoulders and moved her back a little so he could look her right in the eyes. "Kitsune, you know, I can't explain it. About this sex we've been having. It's not just the pleasure of the moment, though there is that. In spades!" She laughed a little, and wiped her tears again. "It's that, I feel… when we make love, we really connect. I feel so close to you. We don't usually have any kind of deep talks with each other, but when we make love, I feel like, a kind of unity with you. Like we're one."

He continued more determinedly, "You can't say you're standing in my way. This is what it's all about. This is really living. I've never felt so alive! Don't you feel it too? The joy of being alive?"

Even as he was speaking, she felt the very joy he was describing well up inside of her and overtake her. She was so bursting with happiness that she almost thought she would pass out. It wasn't just euphoria, it was love. "Yes! I feel it!" she cried out. "I feel it right now!"

She rolled on top of him and kissed him passionately. It was like she wanted to devour him. He responded in kind. But as that first surge of emotion passed through her, she slowed down. They continued to kiss and explore each other, but more slowly now, gently.

But even as they slowed down, their desire heated up. She pulled away long enough to look him lovingly in the eyes and say, "Last night, we fucked. This morning, let's make love."

They resumed another long, smoldering kiss.

---

Half an hour later, Keitaro and Mitsune were trading soft kisses in the afterglow of their lovemaking. Mitsune felt almost light-headed. Their sex was in almost every way a completely different act than what they'd done the night before. In their slow, intimate love making, they bonded and spoke to each other with their bodies in a completely new way. Suddenly it didn't seem at all silly to Mitsune if she were to call him something like "Darling" or "Honey."

They remained in each other's arms. Before he collected his thoughts enough to speak, she said, "I've been with other men before, but…" She trailed off, and Keitaro was surprised to see her blush lightly; Mitsune almost never lost her composure. "But this feels like my first time. It's like you said. This is what it means to be alive."

But then she blushed again, even more this time. In a smaller voice, she asked him, "Keitaro, do you like me?"

He nearly laughed. "How can you say that, after what we just did? Of course!"

"I don't mean like that. There are different kind of likes. I mean, do you like me as a person? Am I the kind of person you'd just want to hang out with, for instance? If we were just to spend the weekend together, say, no sex or romance, just being together, would you like that?"

"Of course. I really like you. The more I'm with you, the more I want to be with you. But I still…" He suddenly cut himself off.

"But what?" she asked urgently. "'But I still…' what?"

He nervously fiddled with his glasses. Now that they'd stopped making love, he felt very awkward lying completely naked next to her and the feel of his glasses was somehow reassuring. "Um, what I mean to say is, I still don't know you that well. I'm like an open book. Everyone knows my moods. If I'm feeling, say, guilty, the whole Hinata Inn knows it in fifteen seconds, it seems like. But when I'm with you, I usually don't know what you're thinking or feeling even. As close as we are here, I wish I knew you better."

Mitsune was deeply touched. _He cares! He really cares for me. Maybe I do have a chance with him, after all. Maybe I am making an impression._

"Keitaro, I have a confession to make. I hide behind these narrow eyes far too much. There's a lot I want to share with you, if you're willing to put up with me."

"I am. I do. I mean, I do want to know more about you."

"I hate to ask this…. I'm so embarrassed…" She blushed again. "I know you have Motoko and Mutsumi to think about. I know that when we get back to the Hinata Inn, you're probably going to start dating one or both of them. But, before you get too serious with either of them, could you promise me one thing? Could we just go out on one date? You know, like we're a real couple? Just once?"

Keitaro considered her words carefully. "Hmm. You have to understand my feelings for both Motoko and Mutsumi are strong. My feeling for you are strong too, but I, I don't know if I'm in love with you."

Mitsune's heart plummeted. She felt it being ripped out of her chest, and was suddenly reminded why she was so reluctant to expose herself emotionally.

He went on, "But, my feelings for you are growing, I must admit. Don't read too much into what I'm about to say  - I'm already in enough hot water being torn between both of them. But Mutsumi at least understands that when I get back I want to, no, I need to, openly date for a while. I'm just not ready to settle on one person just yet, or I'll always wonder what might have been. If we were to stop what we're doing right now and go back to the way we were friends before, I'll always wonder where things might have gone otherwise."

He paused. She felt hope rising in her again. He continued, "So, yeah. I'd love to go out with you. We know each other physically. But let's get to know each other in other ways too."

"I'd really like that," Mitsune replied. She was so overcome with emotion that she started to cry, but the tears were tears of joy. "Honestly, I'd love that. Kei-kun." She deliberately used the more familiar form of his name for the first time.

He repeated that: "Kei-kun." He paused, and then asked, "What should I call you?" He wanted to be more familiar, but didn't know if Kitsune, Mitsune, or something else was best.

She smiled. "Just Mitsune. The others may think of me as Kitsune, the crafty fox, but I hope you can see past that."

"I do, Mitsune." They both smiled at each other warmly, and she realized with a start she was crying again.

She wiped her tears away yet again, and pretending to be angry, hit him gently. "Look what you made me do! You're making me cry! You meanie!"

She kissed him squarely on the mouth. Their passion grew more heated.

She paused, and motioned towards the window. "Look, Kei-kun. The sun is still coming up. We still have plenty of time before the others wake up. Let's see if we can outdo what we did last night."

Keitaro was tired and hung over from the night before; they both were. But all that mattered not as they were swept away on a river of passion.

  
---

NOTE: A big thanks to Alzrius. He not only has been proofreading and assisting with the story, but he also came up with the idea for Chapter Fifty-Nine and wrote much of the actual wording.


	11. Part 11

**The Kiss That Never Was, Part Eleven**

**Chapter Sixty: In the Light of Morning**

Motoko was the first one into the teahouse the next morning. Not only was she an early riser and less hungover than most, but she also wanted to get there early so she could face down the others one by one rather than as a group. Had she come in late, she knew that everyone would stop and stare at her, wondering about her strange behavior last night.

Shinobu came in not long afterwards, feeling like hell from drinking far more than she normally did when she drank at all, but still determined to help cook breakfast for everyone. She waved hello at Motoko from across the teahouse, but also gave her a funny look. Motoko walked over and tried to explain, but at first no words came out. "Um, about last night…" she started, but then she faltered and the silence grew even more painful.

Finally, she thought, _Damn, I can't do this with everyone today. I need help. I'll tell her what happened and see if she's offended._ "Shinobu, look. Um… I know what I did last night seems very strange. It's not something I wanted to do, but I was trying to stave off disaster. You see, and I hope you'll keep this confidential, I discovered that one of the bottles of sake we were drinking had some of Suu's aphrodisiac in it. That's why everyone was acting so strange. You know, like Haruka and Haitani."

"Ooooohhhh…" Shinobu looked like a light bulb went off over her head, as everything was made clear.

"Yeah," Motoko added nervously. "I had to break things up somehow. And, I have to admit, the bottle was mine. I was keeping it in a hiding place, looking for an opportunity to use it on you know who. But someone else found it and shared it without knowing. I feel so ashamed to even think of using such a thing, but I guess love makes a person do strange things. Please don't tell anyone!"

"Okay, I won't," Shinobu said agreeably. "And I understand completely how you feel. In fact, I know far too well!" Shinobu thought back to her own temptations and indiscretions in her attempts to keep Keitaro from getting a girlfriend. But then, more guardedly, she asked, "But why are you telling me this?"

"I don't know. But last night it seemed like you did me a good turn when you dared me to hug Keitaro. I don't know why you did that, but I really appreciate it. I felt like, maybe that…" Motoko struggled to articulate complicated feelings. Finally she cut to the chase. "It's hard to explain, but after you did that I felt like I owed you the truth, and that maybe you could understand and not hate me for it."

"Hate you? Motoko-sempai, why would I hate you?"

Motoko didn't want to bring up the fact that everyone knew but never said out loud, that Shinobu had a desperate crush on Keitaro. So she brought up another reason important to her. "I try to live a life of honor. Tricking someone by altering their mind with a drug is very shameful. The lowest of the low. If my sister could see me now: the way I dress" - Motoko once again wore the new, red bikini - "my loss of self-control, the foolish things I do… I think I'd die for shaming my family."

The two of them stood in the middle of the teahouse dining room, all alone. Suddenly Shinobu reached forward and hugged Motoko tightly, and started to cry. Motoko held her hands away at first, puzzled by what the girl was doing, but eventually reciprocated and tentatively hugged back. After some moments, Motoko couldn't help but ask, "What did I do? Why are you crying?"

Shinobu pulled back and thought to herself. _Motoko is a good person. I've caused her so much pain and suffering! If it weren't for me, she and Keitaro would be a couple already. I need to make it up to her. But at the same time, I can't keep beating myself up over that. I can't undo the past, and whom Keitaro picks as his girlfriend is not something I can control. I tried to undo it last night by putting them together, but that didn't really have an effect. I'm not the scheming type, anyways. But here's another chance for me to at least restore Motoko's reputation and maybe help her out some with Keitaro. But this is the last. I'm going to let what I did before go, and move on. That what Sempai said I should do. I need to be mature._

Shinobu sat down in a nearby chair, as if weighted down by heavy thoughts. With tear stained eyes she looked up at Motoko and said, "I don't think what you did with the bottle was shameful at all. I really understand. And what you did last night was honorable. Let me help. Let me talk to the others about last night. I'll say what you did was to help me." After some more discussion Motoko allowed Shinobu to convince her to make herself scarce so Shinobu could try to fix things.

Shinobu told all the others that she had gone into the teahouse just after Motoko did, told Motoko there that she was feeling very uncomfortable about the game, and begged her to bring it to a halt immediately. Memories were so hazy that no one recalled Shinobu in fact never left the fire. Suddenly Motoko's efforts were seen in a new and sympathetic light. Motoko felt better about herself, and Shinobu felt like the guilty weight she'd been carrying for wronging Motoko and Keitaro was largely lifted. The two of them also felt closer to each other than ever before.

As the morning progressed, one by one the others staggered in to the teahouse. Each person felt worse than the next, but this was no time for lethargy and nasty hangovers. But today was finally the big day of the Star Wars play. Cup after cup of coffee was consumed as everyone tried to snap into shape for the final hours of practice before the big night.

Motoko's bizarre attack was quickly forgotten not only because of Shinobu's explanation, but also because of something even more attention-grabbing. Nearly the last to come down from the hotel were Haitani and Haruka, arm in arm. The two of them basked in the glow of new love. The effect of the love potion didn't end for them with Motoko's attack. After they fell back to the hotel, they made passionate love all night long, even as everyone else but Mitsune and Keitaro tossed and turned in erotic frustration, until the aphrodisiac finally wore off hours later.

Now that the morning had come and they were completely free of the potion's power, the new, odd couple found they were still in love, or at least in lust. Haitani always had a thing for older women, and the fact was, Haruka was a hidden gem. She actually had a very sexy body and attractive face, as the bikini she'd been wearing all week clearly showed. But she too often hid behind a sullen countenance, dumpy clothing, and constant smoking. During this beach trip she'd been flattered by Haitani's constant attentions, and had started to let her hair down. She'd had sex for the first time in ages, and decided she wasn't in any hurry to go back to her celibate and mostly lonely life. Seta was a great guy, but he was also absent-minded towards the feelings of others and just plain absent most of the time. It was suddenly clear to her why she'd been holding back on committing to him - he wasn't giving her what she wanted emotionally.

Haruka was ten years older than Haitani, but that morning they didn't care about that in the least. They stuck to each other like glue, boldly advertising their new relationship for all to see. Seta, who still didn't even know about the kissing the night before, was in the teahouse when the new couple came in. Needless to say, he was beside himself with shock. He took Haruka aside, outside the teahouse, and the two of them talked in private for some time. Then he got in his van and drove off without speaking to anyone. Haruka also left to return to the hotel, but she left with Haitani.

It was as if a tornado touched down in the teahouse. Everyone was astounded. Their kissing the night before was shocking enough, but to actually have the romance last into the light of day was infinitely more surprising. Haitani had his good points, but the chubby, immature, and nerdy guy wasn't exactly anyone's obvious candidate for Mr. Right. At least he took the events in stride and mostly kept his mouth shut instead of strutting around, boasting of a new conquest.

Motoko had come back in time to see the whole encounter between Haruka and Seta. Both Motoko and Shinobu had an extra reason to be amazed, because they alone knew the role of the aphrodisiac in bringing Haitani and Haruka together. It was also known that the turtles Tama and Mecha-Tama had gone from ignoring each other to permanent lovebirds after the love potion was used on them, to say nothing of the addition of Taro. Both Motoko and Shinobu had the same thought: could the drug not only increase arousal, but actually bond two people together?

Also widely known was the fact that Keitaro did not bond with Suu even though both of them used the drug and were put together in a very romantic situation. Furthermore, everyone had the drug the night before, but it only dramatically affected Haruka and Haitani. So the drug wasn't all-powerful. But after seeing what happened to Haitani and Haruka, Motoko and Shinobu were extremely tempted anew to try the drug on Keitaro.

**  
Chapter Sixty-One: Paying Attention to Detail**

The arrangements for the play carried on despite the morning drama. Haruka came back to take charge, but Seta did not reappear. Haruka wouldn't say where he had gone or if he'd be back in time for the play, if she herself knew at all.

It appeared she thought he might not return, because she took advantage of Kentaro's recent arrival to recruit him into being a last minute understudy for Seta's Obi Wan Kenobi role. Like many people he was very familiar with the Star Wars movies and had no trouble remembering how Obi Wan Kenobi was supposed to sound and act like. But he had no sword skills, and if Seta didn't return the fight scenes would suffer badly. Now Mitsune had to try and teach Kentaro the fight moves Seta had been teaching her, but it was like the blind leading the blind.

Everyone sincerely hoped Seta would return, but the afternoon progressed and he didn't even call to tell an increasingly concerned Sara of his whereabouts.

The Haruka teahouse summer play had made a big splash the year before. And while much of that performance was a disaster and even threatened the very lives of the audience, there was no doubt it was just about the most exciting thing to happen in the boring beach town in a long time. So demand to see the new play was tremendous. The teahouse itself was far too small to hold the expected crowds. A local theater was on stand by in case it rained, but the weather forecast looked fine so the plan was to have the play on the beach itself. There was a natural amphitheater carved out of the rocks in a very scenic location not far below the cliff their hotel was perched on, so the play would be held there. It could hold nearly one thousand people. The only downside was the volcanic rocks in the area were sharp and there were no chairs. The handbills and notices strongly recommended that people bring their own cushions.

The evening came and the weather held, with not even a cloud in the sky. Haruka was too busy making sure that the event ran smoothly to have time to worry about how Seta felt about her. Haitani still followed her around as an assistant, and they were more inseparable than ever.

Everyone had practiced their parts and memorized their lines. There was enthusiasm to do a better job than the year before, and hopes ran high. With Suu and her creations as a sort of secret weapon, the play was going to be much more elaborate and effects-laden than a play of their size and locale had any right to be.

Since the movie Star Wars was so long, they focused just on the middle section where Luke Skywalker leads a gang to rescue Princess Leia from the bowels of the Death Star. That allowed them to greatly simplify the set design, as most all the scenes took place in the hallways of the Darth Star. Suu devised the set to be modular and entirely on wheels. Entire walls could be rolled away and replaced by new ones within seconds. The actors all perfected a trick whereby they walked or ran while standing in place, and meanwhile the walls slowly rolled forwards or backwards. It gave the illusion that the actors were traveling from room to room inside a vast enemy spaceship when it reality they only had a limited stage area to work with.

Suu had worked out many other clever effects. For instance, she'd made light sabers that looked and acted just like the light sabers in the movies. One could turn them on and go from just holding a handle to holding a glowing blade. The play was destined to be a success, if only for the presentation and special effects alone.

Haruka ran a tight ship, and all the equipment was in place in the natural amphitheater and ready hours in advance. All that was left was for the actors to practice their scenes for the last time. The attention focused on fighting scenes involving Obi Wan Kenobi, in case Kentaro had to step in for the still missing Seta.

Suu and Mutsumi found themselves sitting together at the side of the stage, watching Motoko, Mitsune, Keitaro, and Kentaro work on the Obi Wan Kenobi fighting scenes. Mutsumi had been very busy lately practicing her Princess Leia role, and Suu was even busier not only getting ready to play Chewbacca, but more importantly getting all the effects together. This was a rare moment of rest in a very busy day.

They'd been watching the others quietly, but out of the blue Suu asked Mutsumi, "Mutsumi, why do you like Keitaro?"

Mutsumi was a bit surprised, but took it in stride. A smile came across her face as she thought of Keitaro and all the reasons she liked him. "Well, you know him as well as I, so you already know that he's kind, caring, tho…"

Suu interrupted her. "Yeah, I know that. I don't mean that. I mean, why do you like him instead of someone else? You're cute, sexy, fun to be with, smart, rich, warm-hearted, friendly, and you like watermelons."

Suu added this last one as a joke, and Mutsumi laughed. She joked back, "Why, Suu-chan, I do believe you're coming on to me!"

Suu laughed too, but continued, "You could have your choice of just about any eligible bachelor in Japan. And now that you're going to be attending Toudai, the very most impressive young men in the whole country are going to be after you. I know Keitaro has a lot going for him, but other women here love Keitaro very much. So why try so hard with him against all the competition when you could have you pick of anyone else at the best university in Japan?"

Mutsumi laughed gaily. "Speaking of competition, sounds like someone else here would like Keitaro all for her own." She playfully nudged Suu, who blushed. "But that's okay. I understand what you're getting at. There are some people here who maybe have Keitaro as their only serious chance at this time to have a boyfriend. Whereas I only need to walk onto the Toudai campus and faint, and a whole army of cute guys will come to my rescue. Not even Mitsune has such an opportunity."

Suu wondered at Mutsumi's comment about the fainting. _Could the innocent Mutsumi sometimes stage her fainting for strategic purposes? Hmm. I'll have to think about that._ She remained silent and let Mutsumi continue.

"The fact is, Suu-chan, Keitaro is the only man who interests me. Ever since we first kissed many months ago, I haven't thought of anyone else. He has a very special place in my heart. I wish I could say why exactly, but some of it I can't put into words and some has to remain a secret. But he and I go back a very long way, to when we were small children. When I'm with him, I feel so happy and loved. And comforted. Maybe it's like finding an old photo album from earlier in your life, and you open it up and your heart is filled with happy memories."

"It's like that. No one else can compete. Sure, there are lots of guys at Toudai like that Kentaro from last night. Rich, handsome, smart, suave, driving around in a fancy red sports car, and all that. But I'm an old-fashioned kind of girl. I don't like that kind of person; someone so slick and so perfect. It's not that I love Keitaro despite all of his faults, I love him because of all of his faults. When he does something silly or immature, it actually makes me happy to see it. And not just because he's so endearingly cute and funny when he falls down or frets. It's because I see us growing older together and becoming better people together."

Suu looked at Mutsumi, who sat in her usual, angelic pose with her hands at her chin and eyes nearly closed, almost as if in prayer. She wore her usual beatific smile as well, a smile that radiated kindness and joy to all who saw it. Suu was impressed with the depth of Mutsumi's feeling. All she could say was, "Wow."

Mutsumi giggled, and leaned in to Suu's ear, adding, "Just between you and me, I really, really love him. I know there's a lot of competition, but I'm going to do anything it takes to get him. Because he's my special one."

**  
Chapter Sixty-Two: Liddo-kun's Very, Very Good Friends**

Mutsumi leaned back and focused again on the play. Suu thought about all that Mutsumi said. _Maybe Keitaro is right. Maybe my feelings for him are still not mature. Mutsumi seems very sincere and very determined. How can I compare against the likes of Mutsumi when they've known each other practically since they were babies? There's nothing I can invent or do that could compare with their long history. It's not like I can invent a time machine! I'm no good at this romance stuff._

Suu sighed a heavy sigh. She didn't want to think about these problems any more at the moment, especially with the play weighing on her mind. She said lightheartedly to Mutsumi, "Your competitors for Keitaro's heart had better watch out. Although, I think you're not the only one who could make such a case of such heartfelt feeling. Frankly, I don't know how he's going to wind up with just one woman. He may find he's stuck with all of us forever."

Mutsumi laughed. "Wouldn't that be fun? If Keitaro had a whole gaggle of wives? I'll bet we could make him really happy."

Suu laughed as well, but was uncertain if Mutsumi was joking or not. The Okinawan girl was very unusual and hard to read.

Mutsumi continued, "Come to think of it, that reminds me of a Liddo-kun cartoon. Do you remember them, the cute stuffed teddy bear animals who had their own TV show 'Liddo-Kun and Friends' many years ago? I used to have a Liddo-kun doll when I was a little girl."

"Yeah, I remember," said Suu. She recalled Narusegawa's Kiddo-kun doll which was always laying somewhere in the Hinata Inn. The yellow doll was short with stubby arms and legs, and a cute innocent face that had buttons for eyes. 

Mutsumi brought her hands back to her chin and it looked as if she strained to recall the show. "Yes, there was this one episode about the main Liddo-kun character and his attempt to find love. Liddo-kun had three friends and they all lived in a cave together. One was fat, another one wore weird spirally glasses, and the third one had extra long ears. It was hard to tell, but Liddo-kun was male, and the other three were females.

"One day Liddo-kun announced that he was lonely and looking for love. The other cute creatures all immediately said they wanted love too. But he couldn't decide on just one of them, as they were all his friends and they'd shared many adventures together. So they all jumped into his bed together and had a wild, passionate orgy. I remember watching as a little kid and I was quite surprised at the things they showed! Those dolls are a lot more anatomically correct than you'd guess at first glance, at least once they get excited.

"Anyways, Liddo-kun lived in a dangerous land with many evil creatures about. He and his friends were so busy making whoopee all day long that no one watched the mouth of the cave, and eventually a giant troll walked right in. The troll saw them all bouncing up and down on the bed and just reached out and greedily skewered them with his long claws. Then he roasted them over a fire with them still sticking on his claws, just like roasting marshmallows. And then he ate them up, one by one. It was quite a sad ending, now that I think about it."

"That's not how the episode went!" Suu said incredulously, upset at the fate of the cute creatures. "You're making that all up!"

"Am I?" Mutsumi asked herself out loud with a perfectly innocent expression. She continued with a straight face, "Well, in any case it goes to show that having more than one lover at a time never works, because you always end up getting eaten by giant trolls."

"It does not," Suu complained. Again, she couldn't really understand Mutsumi. Her story was obviously bogus, but she seemed so honest and told it so sincerely.

Mutsumi looked back at the stage and saw Keitaro waving to her. Now that she saw him, he shouted, "Princess Leia, we need you for this next scene."

Mutsumi got up. "If you'll excuse me, Suu-chan. Wish me luck in the play tonight."

Suu said, "Good luck," but just as Mutsumi was about to walk away, she added, "Mutsumi? I must confess. If Keitaro has to choose just between you and Motoko, I hope he chooses you."

"Oh really? Why is that?"

"It's selfish of me, but it's also a serious consideration. Motoko sleeps in the same bed as me every night, as you know already. I've never been able to sleep alone my whole life. If he picks Motoko, then what will I do? I don't want to be alone. I wouldn't be able to sleep at all!"

"Oh. I see," Mutsumi said noncommittally. "Hmm. I must be going. Nice talking to you." She walked off towards the others at the center of the stage.

**  
Chapter Sixty-Three: The Force is With Them**

Finally it was eight P.M. and the time for the Star Wars play to begin. The show was completely sold out and the crowd was very receptive, but the actors were nervous. They mostly worried about Seta. The fact that he was missing was actually a blessing in disguise, because it focused their minds on his problem instead of their own worries about how they would perform.

At the last possible minute, Seta came in, already dressed as Obi-Wan Kenobi. He swept into the room with blood pouring out of his forehead - obviously he'd had trouble parking his van again. "Sorry I'm late," was all he said to the rest of the cast, who stood as a group behind the curtains that hid them from the audience.

"A-ha!" Keitaro said happily. "I knew you'd show up! Didn't I tell everyone you'd show up? You live for these plays. No way you'd miss one."

Seta smiled. "You're right about that, young Luke." Then he looked over and saw Haruka, standing at the side of the stage with a clipboard. Beside her stood Haitani. The smile dropped from Seta's face.

Haruka walked up to him and said, "We need to talk some more, but now's not the time. The crowd is growing restless. Let's just do the best play that we can, and have our discussion when we're back in Tokyo tomorrow? Okay?"

"Alright," Seta said sadly.

Sara rushed into his arms. "Papa! Where have you been? You could have called! I've been so worried!"

While Seta comforted Sara, Haruka turned to Kentaro and said, "Sorry, buddy. No Obi Wan for you. Thanks for helping us out though - we all owe you one. And we still have that Stormtrooper role, if you want it." She tossed him a white Stormtrooper helmet.

"Thanks," he said. "I knew this would happen, but it was fun practicing with you guys. I'll take what I can get." He went to go get the rest of a Stormtrooper uniform.

Haruka then said to the group, "Everyone set then?" There were nods all around. "Good. Go out there and break a leg!" Dressed in a formal and elegant black evening gown, she walked through the part in the curtain to address the crowd and introduce the play.

In the Hinata Inn telling of Star Wars, the story began on the deck of Han Solo's ship, the Millennium Falcon. Luke (Keitaro), Obi Wan Kenobi (Seta), Han Solo (Motoko), Chewbacca (Suu), C-3P0 (Shinobu), and R2-D2 (Sara) sat around as the ship flew between planets. Obi Wan was using the down time to teach Luke more about the ways of the Force.

The setting looked perfect. A cutaway of the Millennium Falcon was displayed in the middle of the stage, and on the sides all one could see was the blackness of deep space and the lights of many stars. Keitaro and Motoko feathered shaggy wigs that made them look remarkably like their characters. Between Motoko's wig, clothing, and taped down breasts, no one in the audience could tell Han Solo was being played by a woman. Seta wore an impressive beard. Seta, Suu, and Shinobu were all deeply buried inside their respective costumes. The only obvious nod to practicality was that R2-D2 was much taller than in the movie, and had a pair of feet sticking out from under its round shape.

Han Solo's ship came under attack by enemy Tie Fighters, and Suu's special effects handled the scene very ably. The part of the stage that was the Millennium Falcon rattled and shook, and laser beams shot through the sky outside it. Small models of the enemy ships held up on strings helped make for a convincing battle, and each enemy was blown up one by one. But then the ship was caught in the tractor beam of the Death Star. After more shaking and a security sweep of the ship after it had landed inside the Death Star, the curtains were closed and the stage was reborn as the interior hallways of the Death Star.

**  
Chapter Sixty-Four: Corrupting the Children**

The play proceeded without incident, and everyone was doing a marvelous job. Luckily, Haitani played the role of Governor Tarkin, the enemy commander of the Death Star. That meant his character never met Seta's character, Obi Wan Kenobi, during the entire play. No doubt those scenes would have been fraught with tension and difficulty. Even Haitani's double duty as the occasional Stormtrooper extra never put him in contact with Seta's character.

In the story, Luke and Han Solo disguise themselves as two Stormtroopers and pretend they are escorting Chewbacca as a prisoner to the prison section of the ship. Their plan is to rescue the rebel leader Princess Leia (Mutsumi) who's being held there. Obi Wan Kenobi goes off to confront his former student Darth Vader elsewhere in the ship, and C-3P0 and R2-D2 tap into the ship's computers to help with the prison rescue.

The only problem the actors had was a big one: the underlying romantic tension and competition surrounding Keitaro. This first showed itself when the rescue team burst into Princess Leia's prison cell, and Luke announced, "I'm here to rescue you!"

As Motoko was playing the role of Han Solo, she wasn't enamored with the plot of Luke rescuing Princess Leia played by Mutsumi. She also wasn't pleased by the fact that Mutsumi looked beautiful in a flowing white robe while she had to be bundled up in men's clothes.

The focal points of conflict were the kissing scenes. The Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia characters kiss several times during the entire Star Wars movie, but during the section performed in the play, there's only one kiss. So Mutsumi suggested that several be added, especially one at the end, and Keitaro naturally thought that was a splendid idea.

The first one came when the rescuers were trying to break out of the prison block. They found the entrance to a garbage chute, and as laser guns shot at them, their only hope was to jump into it. In the script, at the entrance to the chute, Princess Leia clung to Luke and kissed him on the cheek before they jumped, saying, "Be careful!" But in the play, Motoko saw that coming and made her own edit. Right before the kiss was to happen, Motoko pushed the two other characters into the chute just before they could kiss. Then she jumped into after them and they all ended up on a pile of trash.

Much to Motoko's chagrin, Mutsumi wasn't dissuaded. After landing on the trash mound, she kissed Keitaro then, and said the "Be careful!" line. Motoko grumbled inwardly, but the play went on.

It was a long time until the next kiss. The heroes ran up and down the corridors of the Death Star, shooting their guns and dropping enemy Stormtroopers at every turn. Everything ran smoothly, and the audience loved it. Then the story came to a scene where Luke and Leia have to jump across a great chasm. The enemy shoots at them from several directions while Luke hooks up a rope so he can swing across the gap with Leia clinging to him. To make this scene realistic, Keitaro and Mutsumi actually were put up on high scaffolding to make a very real chasm open up below them. It was only five meters high and there were cushions down in the darkness to break any accidental fall, but it seemed scary enough to both the audience and the actors.

At this point in the story, Leia was to kiss Luke briefly on the lips and say, "For luck!" before they successfully swung across the chasm and again eluded the enemy. Leia and Luke had become separated from Han Solo and Chewbacca by this time, so Motoko was in no position to stop the kiss. In fact, she watched it on the stage along with everyone else.

The kiss went as the script demanded, but Mutsumi, perhaps as a little payback for Motoko's attempt to stop the first kiss, wasn't satisfied with just a quick peck on the lips. Her Leia kissed Keitaro's Luke, and kissed him hard. Before Keitaro knew what was happening, the two of them were French kissing passionately. The excitement of having to shortly make a very real jump across a very real chasm and the fact that a thousand people were watching fueled the intensity and thrill of the kiss. The only thing that stopped them from going on much longer was that they couldn't ignore all the Stormtroopers shooting at them. So Mutsumi said her "For luck!" line and they swung across the gap.

Motoko was steamed. She was naturally against having these kissing scenes in the play at all, especially the added ones. She said it would corrupt the children watching, but of course her real objection was that she wasn't the one being kissed.

In the movie, there is a grand finale where the heroes are awarded medals in a ceremony attended by a vast crowd. Leia winks at Luke in this scene, further setting up the love interest for the next movie. But the play was to end when the Millennium Falcon took off from the Death Star, after Princess Leia was successfully rescued. To have more of an emotional pay off, Mutsumi successfully lobbied for another kiss just before the Millennium Falcon took off. That would mark the end of the play and the curtains would come down as the heroes would run up the gang plank from the deck of the Death Star onto the Millennium Falcon.

However, after that last prolonged and obviously incredible kiss, Motoko was determined not to see Mutsumi and Keitaro share another. It wasn't so much that she was mad at the kisses, per se. She was more angry at herself. The play marked the de facto end of everyone's beach trip. There was to be a party after the play at the house of a local who had helped get the play all arranged. Motoko knew all the main actors would be thronged by many in the busy crowd who wanted to extend their congratulations and so forth. She knew she wouldn't have another chance to really speak to Keitaro one on one until they were both back at the Hinata Inn.

In other words, she had blown it. She'd had a golden opportunity to develop her romance with Keitaro during their extensive time at the beach, but she had little to show for it, if she looked at it in competitive, zero-sum terms. At best, she was in a draw with Mutsumi, but now thanks to these kisses in the play, Mutsumi would get the edge over her. Motoko had no doubt that Mutsumi would make the final kiss to end the play as passionate and as prolonged as she could possibly get away with.

Meanwhile, there was Mitsune. Keitaro was getting better at hiding his emotions, but those who knew him could still read his face like a book. Motoko knew that Keitaro had slept with Mitsune the night before. The two of them were touchy-feely and giggly with each other the morning after their lovemaking, and that was getting to be an all too common sight for Motoko. She knew the two of them had slept together several times on the trip. Worse for her, they were coming together emotionally as well, especially in the last day or two.

So between Keitaro's sleeping with Mitsune and kissing Mutsumi, Motoko felt that the two-way competition was becoming a three-way one, and she was falling the farthest behind. But what was really strange was that she more upset by the prospect of Keitaro and Mutsumi kissing during the play than the fact that he and Mitsune were sleeping together. Part of it was the difference between Mitsune versus Mutsumi and part of it was theoretical knowledge versus actually seeing with one's own eyes, but that's how she felt. She had the intuition that what happened next, while seemingly inconsequential and just part of the play, in fact would be extremely pivotal. She needed to do something and fast to stop the last kiss from happening, but she didn't know what.

**  
Chapter Sixty-Five: A Star Wars Finale, Hinata-style**

While Motoko was brooding over this, the play was focusing on the characters of Obi Wan Kenobi (Seta) and Darth Vader (Mitsune). Mitsune had done a very competent Darth Vader, mimicking the heavy breathing and deep voice well enough to make James Earl Jones proud. Seta also made a very convincing Obi Wan. Now the two of them had the climatic light saber duel that Seta spent several days tutoring Mitsune with.

Darth Vader and Obi Wan fought up and down the hallways of the Death Star, with every blow choreographed and carefully practiced in advance. The light sabers were harmless if one got hit, but still the fight had to look real and exciting to the audience. The two of them battled their way towards the spot where the Millennium Falcon was docked. A crowd of Stormtroopers (played by all seven extras) and all the other heroes from the story, even the robots, stood on the other side of the landing bay, watching the fight. The Stormtroopers and heroes were too transfixed by the pivotal fight to notice each other and fight amongst themselves.

Obi Wan Kenobi had been maneuvering himself close to the Millennium Falcon so the saber fight would serve as a distraction and allow the others to get safely on board their ship. He didn't plan to make it out with the others. Instead, he stopped fighting and let Darth Vader strike him down.

Luke saw this and loudly yelled, "No!" The Stormtroopers thus noticed the presence of the others and started firing at them. Luke was transfixed by the shock of Obi Wan's death, and didn't move quickly into the Millennium Falcon, even though he stood near the gangway leading up into it. In the play, the idea was Leia would snap him out of his daze by kissing him on the lips. Then the two of them would rush into the ship, shooting at Stormtroopers all the way. And the play would end to the happy cheers of the audience.

The only problem was, Motoko was supposed to stand right by in her Han Solo role and watch while this kiss took place. Han was to say to Luke, "Come on, kid!" Then Leia was to cry, "Come on! Luke, it's too late!"

But Motoko, still desperately trying to think of a way to stop the last kiss, didn't say the line she was supposed to say. With laser guns shooting from all over, Motoko/Han said, "You can't kiss her, kid!"

Keitaro/Luke understandably replied, "Hunh?"

Motoko yelled more insistently, "I said you can't kiss her!" At this point she had all but abandoned rationale, and was willing to do just about anything to derail the kissing scene. The Stormtroopers pretended to keep firing. Chewbacca and Leia pretended to fire back, and every now and then one of the Stormtroopers felt obliged to fall to the ground and fake a death. As there were only seven extras to play Stormtroopers to begin with, the scene was running out of living Stormtroopers with every passing second. Meanwhile, Darth Vader was supposed to have been trapped on the other side of a heavy door at the end of the saber fight and thus was out of the picture.

Mutsumi tried to move the play along by shouting her line, "Come on! Luke, it's too late!" Then she moved back down the gang plank towards Keitaro to kiss him.

But Motoko stood directly in the way. "No! Don't!" she cried. Scrambling for something better to say, she suddenly thought of something from the second Star Wars movie. "Anyways, you can't kiss her! Don't you know? She's your sister!"

The crowd gasped. A majority of them had seen the Star Wars movies and knew Leia was Luke's sister, but they also knew that revelation wasn't supposed to happen at this time.

"What are you talking about?" Luke said dumbly. The last of the Stormtroopers pretended to die, since it was absurd for them to shoot at each other from such close range and have everyone miss.

From the side of the stage, Haruka groaned, "Here we go again!" Last year's play had been wildly off script. Haruka had been pleasantly pleased by how smoothly everything had gone this time around, but now, right as they reached the finish line, it looked like the whole thing would fall apart.

Haruka looked around, scrambling for something to do. Her eyes fell on Mitsune, still in her Darth Vader costume. Mitsune was watching the final scene from the sidelines.

Haruka said to her, "Go back out there! Come at them with your light saber so that idiot Keitaro will get his ass onto the ship and the damned play will end! Hurry!"

So Mitsune strode back onto stage, pretending that the Darth Vader character had made it past the door that blocked him. Motoko, Mutsumi, and Keitaro remained at an impasse. All three now stood on the gangway leading up into the ship. But Motoko still stood between Keitaro and Mutsumi and the ship's entrance, and wouldn't let him pass. He didn't know what to do, and just stood there.

They all turned around and watched Darth Vader/Mitsune coming. Mutsumi, who seemed to be the most alert to trying to keep the story moving, gamely shot towards Darth Vader, but her shots were deflected by a swinging light saber, just as in the movies.

Motoko was thinking much more of her real life romantic situation that the plot, but was still trying desperately to somehow stop Keitaro slipping away from her while keeping the play going. When she saw Mitsune coming, she shouted at Keitaro, "You can't kiss her either! I meant him! You shouldn't be sleeping with him!" Realizing how ridiculous she sounded, Motoko couldn't help but feel a twinge of panic. Pulling a plotline from another Star Wars film, she shouted, "Don't you know that Darth Vader is your father? Anyways, he's a woman!" 

That was so unexpected that everyone just froze. The audience held its collective breath and tried to make sense of what was happening on stage.

As all the actors were standing like statues, Motoko walked over to where Mitsune/Darth Vader stood, and took the helmet off. "You see?" With the helmet off, Mitsune's very clearly female head was revealed to the crowd. The blushing Mitsune turned towards the audience and gave a tiny, embarrassed wave.

Mutsumi snapped to enough to say, "Luke! And, um, Han! We can't just stand here! Let's get on the ship!"

Motoko shouted, "No! Don't go! Don't choose her! Go with me! I'm the one who loves you."

Abandoning the pretense of the play completely, she walked up to Keitaro, who still stood there, unable to fathom what was happening. She placed her hands on his shoulders and looked him intently in the eyes. "Keitaro, I love you. I've always loved you. Please. I can't take it any more! Tell me you love me. Tell me you'll choose me!"

Mutsumi desperately wanted this over and the play to finish. She cried, "Han, what are you talking about? You're a man!"

"No I'm not! I'm a woman! I'm all woman!" She ripped her wig off and shook her long, silky, black hair free. It cascaded down her back and the crowd let out another gasp. She tore open her shirt and threw it to the ground. The wrapping that bound her breasts tightly was now there for all to see. The crowd gasped again at that - even with the tight binding, the audience could see there was no doubt Han Solo was played by a woman.

More tenderly, Motoko leaned closer towards Keitaro's face and said, "Keitaro, it's not fair for me to ask you to choose right now; I know that. But at least promise me that when we get back home, you'll date me. You can see the others too; I don't care. Just tell me please I'm not out of the running!"

By now the audience was realizing the play was over and they were seeing a real life soap opera unfold before their eyes. They took it in stride fairly well, as these new developments were quite entertaining. Haruka and the others didn't know what to do that wouldn't ruin the play even more, so they just watched the drama unfold.

Keitaro finally managed to reply, "Motoko, I love you too. But you're not the only one I love. I can't make up my mind. I've spoken to the others, and I think everyone would agree if I just openly date for a while."

"So it's not over?" Motoko said excitedly.

"No, of course not."

"But the way you kissed her earlier, I thought…" Motoko interrupted her own sentence and impulsively kissed Keitaro on the lips. The crowd gasped again, especially those who were somehow still under the impression Motoko was supposed to be Han and Keitaro was supposed to be Luke.

Mutsumi was too polite to physically break up the kiss, but as the kiss went on and on, and then kept going some more, now she felt herself to be the desperate one. She knew something like this was bound to happen eventually, and knew that Keitaro would be dating other girls when they went back to Hinata Inn, but that didn't quell the hurt she felt at seeing Keitaro and Motoko making out right in front of her. Like Motoko, she had the intuition these moments were very pivotal. She wondered what she could do to break the two of them off, but nothing came to mind.

But then she thought, _There is one thing. My secret. Our secret. Maybe he'll think I'm a liar, because I lied to him about it once before. But that's when I thought he and Narusegawa were a couple for sure and I had lost all hope. I thought a white lie would make them happy. How foolish I was then, to give up so easily! Why do I hold back now? Every second I wait, the further he slides away from me, right before my eyes!_

She urgently tapped Keitaro on the back. "Kei-kun. Kei-kun."

He broke off the kiss and looked at Mutsumi. He blushed with shame as he realized she'd been standing right next to them during the entire kiss, but still Motoko held onto him tightly. "What is it?"

"I have something important to say. Do you know your childhood promise? The promise you made way back when, to get into Toudai? Well, I lied when I said it couldn't be me. The fact is, it was me. I'm the girl of your promise!"

Keitaro felt like he'd been hit by a bolt of lightning. In an instant he realized what she said was true. _Something about that promise has been nagging at me, and now I understand. It was impossible for Naru to have been the girl of my promise. Mutsumi and I were the same age, but Narusegawa was too young. She couldn't have made the promise at a time when she was just learning to talk! We ignored that fact and readily believed Mutsumi when she said the girl was Naru because we both so desperately wanted it to be so. But it's clear to me now. It had to be Mutsumi. It had to!_

He looked to Motoko, still in his arms, and then turned back and looked towards Mitsune. She was walked towards him and was practically upon him now, but she clearly didn't know what to say or do. Then he looked back at Mutsumi.

He was terribly torn and confused. _But does it matter now? Does the promise matter? I'd convinced myself that Naru was the one for me, promise or no promise. So why should it matter now? But the promise is there. … But I love all three of these women so much, not to mention Shinobu and Suu. Everyone is staring at me. One thousand strangers are staring at me! They want me to say something. But how can I possibly choose?_

Again he looked back and forth between the three women. Suu, Shinobu, and Sara had their masks off now too, and they were also inching closer to him, as was all the other members of the cast. Even the dead Stormtroopers were now standing or sitting up to see what he would do.

Suddenly he let go of Motoko and shouted to all the people he knew, "Listen! Don't make me decide! You can't make me! I'm not ready! How could I be? You're all so wonderful."

He turned back and focused his attention solely on Mitsune, Motoko, and Mutsumi. His eyes went from one to another. In a more subdued voice, he said, "I know that I can only choose one of you. But I need time. Please. Let's try this open dating idea. I know it's not fair to drag this out, and Haruka said postponing a decision is the one thing I shouldn't do, but it's the only way. Is that something you could agree to?"

Mitsune, Motoko, and Mutsumi all looked at him gravely and nodded. Then all three of them closed the short distance to him, and the four of them embraced in one group hug.

To the side of them, Haruka stood with cigarette hanging from her mouth and said, "Aaah. That's a good ending. Haitani, please pull the curtain."

Haitani had been doubling as one of the Stormtroopers when he wasn't needed in his Governor Tarkin role. He got up from where he'd been sitting and ran off the stage to the cord that controlled the curtains. He pulled on it hard and the curtain rapidly fell down.

The audience sat there, silent, staring at the curtain now blocking the view of the stage. One person clapped. Then another. Soon, the entire crowd was clapping enthusiastically. They all were extremely perplexed by the play's ending, but no one could deny that the play was remarkably well done overall, and the ending, while bizarre, was nonetheless quite entertaining.

On the other side of the curtain, the Hinata gang broke into laughter as they happily realized the play hadn't gone over as a total disaster.

Now everyone was walking around, hugging everyone else. Mitsune commented, "Actually, now that I think about it, compared to last year, that was a big improvement! Keitaro, do you recall how you took Naru's bra off in front of everyone? Maybe there has to be a Hinata tradition to end every play by a woman baring her chest." There was more laughter.

The audience cheers continued until eventually the cast felt obliged to go out in front of the curtain and take a bow. That led to even more cheers. Everyone was happy.

Everyone, that is, but Keitaro. While the others were laughing, hugging, and slapping each other on the back, his mind was racing as he jumped from doubt to doubt, question to question. _What of the promise, now Mutsumi's promise? Or my recent closeness to Mitsune? And that kiss with Motoko? What a kiss! And speaking about Naru, what about her? My God, I'll probably be seeing her in a matter of days now that class will be starting! What'll I say to her? What'll she say?_

_What the hell am I going to do?!?_


End file.
